If the DAC is the same, how different do CD transports sound?

I am not aware of any compelling explanations as to why this might be the case, but in my experience, top-loading transports which utilize weighted pucks on top of the CDs sound better than other designs.

No confirmation bias involved in my observations, though I have never A/B tested.

I have had different transports plugged into the same DAC playing the same CD.  Mostly I compared by switching back and forth but one time I enlisted my (very bored) wife to do the switching and write down my impressions.  My blind impressions always corresponded to my unblinded, but unless I get a different lab assistant I won’t be doing that again.  At any rate transports matter, imo, but the DAC is still the major determinant of digital sound

I think the differences are more about build quality, features, and the ability to read cds ie error correction, buffer etc. I’d like to think my McIntosh transport sounds better than others, and maybe it does, but it can read cds other players can’t and it also has the ability to accept and play dsd files from a USB thumb drive. My two cents. 

@audphile1

In my opinion, I would not rely on this type of evaluation

Thanks for spelling out your thinking. I see your point about longer term listening. On the other hand, this was a test done by someone experienced in speaker design and recording and a group of others with a variety of expertise in audio and acoustic arts. Given the mettle of this group, I find it hard to believe they would participate in a sham experiment for entertainment purposes only, especially one where their names are mentioned and for all of this to be posted on a fairly popular YouTube channel. (It has 94k views so far.) I’m more inclined to think that both you and they have made observations relevant to the question, Do transports make a difference?

@vthokie83 Interesting that you find differences but that they’re not enough in your resolving system to spend up for a Jay’s. That does confirm if not the lack of difference in the YouTube experiment, at least the proposition that there is not that much to gain by a better transport. I see others here differ, and that’s fine, of course.

@pwerahera

Most modern DACs have good reclocking mechanisms and other methods to reduce playback jitter. Any transport can provide the digital signal with varying degree of jitter. So the issue is, if you have a good DAC, then why would the transport matter? Because DAC should be able to buffer the incoming digital signal from any transport and convert into an analog signal based on its own clock and analog filters. Now one can argue about different DACs and their implementations. However, different CD transports should not impact the digital signal or its quality. [my emphasis]

This is the explanation I got from a local audiophile friend whose expertise is in telecommunications and computing. It would fit with the experimental listening results which Mr. Lovegrove obtained.

It often gets lost in these threads, but I posted the Youtube video to generate discussion, not because I agreed with it. Thank you, folks, for the discussion.

With my GREAT (top flight, best ever) sounding office system (considered junk level for most here) where I rotate through lots of equipment and do my casual listening, I finally connected my office laptop to the receiver. Then did a simple comparison:

A) laptop, ripped CD (FLAC), 25 ft cheapest USB C to Shiit DAC, DAC expansive ($15 RCA to receiver.

B) Panasonic using above CD, same RCA to receiver

What blew my mind (initially): the laptop sounded SO MUCH (not even close) better. Granted, my fancy system (no component was more than $500, all used) is very revealing, still the difference was astonishing. The laptop just sounded so much more ALIVE, staging was a lot better. 

Further rethinking made it obvious: I was comparing a great (Shiit) and modern/new DAC with a really shitty, cheap and decades old (build into the lowly Panasonic CD) DCA. 

I am still a big believer that the ANALOG portion of any music chain is having by far the greatest impact (room, speakers, DAC, amps).