How important is the transport when using a DAC?

Well...if there ONE thing you can get away with not having to spend loads of money (unless ultimate musical reproduction is a must), inexpensive transport it is...but experiment with few inexpensive dvd players and you might hear a difference too...

I would really welcome someone demonstrate this difference in sound for me. I have yet to hear it.
Many fairly high end CD players used to use 29 dollar computer transports.

Then again, they are selling Cardas Gold CAT5 cable now for music servers...so go figure...

not sure how to "demonstrate" it for you Gumby?? (without inviting you over with a cheap transport in hand). i've hooked up several cheap transports/cd players to my PWDmk2 and they all sounded obviously worse...compared to my PWT.

can't/won't make the blanket statement that a better transport will yield better sound but it absolutely did with my PSA gear. true...the PWT is a 3k transport and the question of "how much better" or "is it worth it" can still be debated. but make no mistake here...it *can* make a very noticeable difference.

The answer to your question is yes, you should have a transport that is well matched to your DAC because the system sound will take on the character of the transport. One of the better transports available at a reasonable price is the California Audio Labs Delta transport. I know of one currently for sale. If you check around you will find it.

Hi LearyScott

I had a $30 Memorex DVD player as a transport to a Musiland MD-11 DAC and this combo was very un-involving. When listening to music all I could picture in my head was grey cold steel. I later changed the transport to a Cambridge Audio CD player that had a significantly better build quality and the overall sound improved. YMMV.

What transports are you eyeing?