older CD transport vs newer ones.

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.

audio-union

... CEC transports use belt drive systems to reduce error rate, also know as jitter ...

Error rate and jitter are two different things. Errors result from inability to read data. That is actually rare - because the data is interleaved and encoded redundantly - and when it does it happen, it is almost always resolved through error correction, which is part of the CD standard.

Jitter is simply a timing error. 

cleeds4,007 posts
I agree, My mistake.