Have transports improved for Redbook CD playback?

+1 for CEC, the belt drive "analog" alternative.

I have a Chord Blu Mk 2 cd transport and upsampler. It's key advantage is the built in upsampler. It can upsample CDs to 32/384 via BNC SPDIF. If used with its sister Chord DACs, Dave (I'm using this) and Qutest, it can upsample to 32/768 using dual BNC SPDIF. This is the best transport I've had in my system which have included a Accustic Arts CD transport, AudioNote CDT2, 47 Labs Flatfish w/upgraded clock and battery power and Esoteric P2S. FWIW.

First,

Transports do make a difference in the performance of the DAC it is driving.  I highly recommend that you take a look at thread I started on the Jay's Audio CDT-2 MK-2 transport that I'm reviewing for hometheaterreview.com.  I have a very long history with some of the highest regarded transports in the last twenty years and based on build quality and more importantly performance this 2K transport is a true bargain.

Celander, I found the Oppo 83SE was a fine universal DVD player back in its day but a quality dedicated CD player will sound much better for Redbook CD playback. I would also recommend an Esoteric unit as others have. They are built like tanks and sound excellent.

What’s it mean to be a “single speed player,” such as the Primeforce CDT-8 Pro?

Are universal players multi-speed players? And don’t Redbook players vary speed as a function of disc reading location?