Confused About Relative Sonic Impact of DAC VS. Transport

@stuartk , yes, there is a benefit to isolating digital from analogue. Well done.

You probably know that wall-warts are an inferior power supply. They introduce noise into the signal path and have a greater chance of contaminating the power line and other components.
I asked about how you were powering the Synchromesh for two reasons. The first is due to the noise factor of the wall-wart. The main reason is performance. A linear PS will provide clean regulated power, thus improving performance. It may also improve the leanness coming from the transport. 
 Every time I have upgraded a wall-wart to an LPS, the result was increased SQ; eg, better dynamics, imaging, soundstaging. When you’re ready to upgrade, may I suggest a Swagman Labs LPS as a high quality affordable PS. I’m using an upgraded unit on my reclocker.

Changing to copper conductors in your cables is worth trying.
You’re making progress trying to improve the sound of your digital, but after all is said and done, your best move may be to try a different transport. For the CD format which is supposed to be dying, there are many new transports coming to market.

Good morning, lowrider57:

Thanks for recommending Swagman. Their units are certainly more affordable than others I've looked at. Still, I'll have to see how things shake out. I hadn't anticipated having to buy new IC's and my budget for audio is relatively modest. 

I'm not going to bend over backwards in order to accommodate the Heed, especially knowing that I can order the Sim 260T and return it if I'm not happy. Yes; I realize there are a variety of  transports out there, but I'll only consider purchases that include a return policy. Demoing gear in showrooms is a form of gambling I can't afford.  

Thanks again for your input. 

"I’m still hearing fatiguing highs with other CDs that were not evident with the Jolida. "

The Heed is much better than the Jolida I suspect it is more revealing on bad recordings
, One of the characters of bad recording is bright highs which causing the fatiguing sound I am not sure that it’s because something is wrong with your current system this is the price you have to pay when you are improving your system ! after I upgraded my system unfortunately many CDs can not be heard anymore because they were recorded badly. However @mooglie is right with his response Silver might add more brightness to the sound and for most systems copper cables are better. Silver cables are better for systems that suffer of too worm sound and not enough resolution.

itzhak: for most of the Jolida's lifetime, I used it as a CDP, which meant its tubed preamp influenced the system's sound. Furthermore, I used it for many years in conjunction with a tubed Jolida integrated, so you'll  understand how brighter cabling was appropriate. 

Replacing the Jolida integrated with the Wells SS only improved the system. Likewise, when I added the Aqua Dac and began using the Jolida CDP solely as a transport, everything was still very well balanced. In fact, it was the best sound I'd ever achieved. 

It wasn't until I introduced the Heed transport into this system that problems arose. I'm willing to try some different cables, but if that doesn't 
work, I'll abandon the Heed and try the Sim 260T. 

Resolution is not and has never been, my top priority. More than any-thing, at this point, my aim is to extend my capacity to spin CDs.
Given the age of the Jolida and since I already have a nice DAC, it made sense to me to look for a transport, rather than a CDP.  Although I enjoy the added detail presented by the Heed, I'm rapidly losing patience with trying to compensate for its rather analytical character. if new cabling doesn't do the trick, I'll move on to the Sim. I can only hope the latter is less extreme in terms of resolution!

Ordered a pair of copper Audio Art Statement IC's today.

Will report back once I've listened to the A.Arts' in the system. 

  If they don't tame the Heed's penchant for uncovering sonic nasties,
I'll order the Sim.