older CD transport vs newer ones.

I totally agree, take a very close look at the Pro-Ject RS2 CD BOX Transport. I truly believe it will improve your system.

IMO, if your main concern is having the transport die on you, I would purchase the Jay's Audio with 2 extra transports.  That should hold you for a while. The Pro-Ject is probably great, but, also IMO, the transports come from a new company and you never know where they're going to be in a year, or what the availability of spare parts will be in the future.  With the Jay's and 2 extra transports, at least you know what you got. 

I’m using a Sony CDP-2700 from the mid nineties as my transport and it sounds amazingly better than everything else I’ve tried!

All the best.

JD

Hello,
It is true since you have a killer DAC you can put a $29 dvd through it and it will sound amazing. I have tested this theory on other DACs that range from $1k to $15k. It is true that a lot of expensive companies get their trays from common companies like Teac and pioneer. What you have to realize is what else is in or out of the box. Or what is the box made of. What kinds of boards and components do they use. How are they shielding the components inside the box. The $200 tray might be the same but the rest is not. You also have a killer DAC that can reveal the bad stuff too. Buy the Jays. It’s a great piece and a good value if you have the means. Plus, if you have a laser issue I heard you can swap it out yourself. Maybe even order an extra to keep on hand. If you cannot hear the difference then don’t buy a better transport. But if you cannot hear the difference why did you buy the DCS in the first place? 

In my experience a Good CD transport which only reads Red Book will out perform competition which reads multiple formats due to engineering compromises.

Not all CD transports will perform the same even though technically they should. More compromises.

CEC transports use belt drive systems to reduce error rate, also know as jitter. The lower the jitter rate the better the listening performance. CEC transports are ultra low jitter rate by design. None of this matters unless you have a good DAC to go with your transport. A DAC designed to reproduce Red Book specifically can out perform the competition.

CEC transports are used inside many of your favorite brands and has manufactured their house brand since 1983.

However, if you can not hear the difference go with the less expensive equipment.