CD transports; do they really matter

@havocman

The P700 may not have been Esoteric’s very best effort but during that era it served me well and was better than most in that particular price range at that time. I’ve heard their more recent models at a not too distance dealer.

Charles

IME, it is important, but less than DAC.

if DAC = 100% then transport is 30-40%.

Similar to upgrade the digital I/C's from transport to DAC vs analog I/C's from DAC to amp.

Given the requirements of the DAC and CD transport and their impact on sound quality when either is suitably upgraded my perspective of their respective contribution is 50-50 Maybe 55-45 in favor of the transport.  The delivery of the digital signal from the sorce is paramount.  So this obviously varies from one individual's viewpoint compared to another. 

Charles 

From my personal experience. I had been using Arcam 192 CD player, not too shabby in its days, as a transport with Denafrips Ares II, it was big improvement over Arcam inside DAC. Then I bought Cambridge CXC transport and the improvement was really significant. Here I said it. 

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

Er, yeah, whatever... Are companies still manufacturing CD players & transports...you know the answer. Do many audiophiles have large CD collections...you know the answer to that too.