older CD transport vs newer ones.

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.

I love my McIntosh MCT 500. Pricey but well built, smooth operating, and great sounding. You also get dsd via built in thumb drive and usb.