CD transports; do they really matter

First, does the transport matter… yes. High end manufactures take mass produced transports and isolate them and provide very stable current. They go to great lengths to get the best stream of bits out of them.

However, it is a stream of bits… which you can get from a local file, 0r a network drive, or a streaming service. If it was ten years ago one would look for a great CD player (Transport, Streamer, and DAC). But today it is old technology. Today and the future is about streaming. A good streamer and DAC completely replaces a CD player as a digital source. You can buy a combined streamer, storage, and DAC, or individual. But the future is streaming… not owning physical or digital media. My streamer (using Qobuz) sounds the same on red book CDs and vinyl and frequently better with high Rez. There is no longer a compelling reason to buy a CD player unless you love playing with physical things.

BTW, from a historical perspective it was physical media, then rip CDs (copy a digital file to a storage device… like hard drive), then copy files to a network drive. All historically interesting, but something in ten years folks will be laughing at… you did what? Why?
 

Coincidentally, Ayre Acoustics released a new CD player today, the CX-8.

Also apparently  Ayre's best DAC  is on board, and includes both streaming connectivity in, as well as digital and analog out.

Interesting....

Why not try listening to one in your system ? 

the transport matters. big time, interconnect too, defies logic, really wish it weren‘t so. Take @stuartk‘s sage advice and see for yourself.

If you can‘t hear a difference count yourself very lucky..

There is no longer a compelling reason to buy a CD player unless you love playing with physical things.

The arguments for streaming are manifold, however this is not a universally held view. See threads discussing this issue.