CD transports; do they really matter

Why not? He was completely upfront about it and contributed to the conversation in a helpful way, offering another way of seeing things, making some good points for consideration. 

All the best,
Nonoise

In my experience, a CD transport over a CD player is the way to go.  I began using my CD player as a transport when I bought a new DAC as it was sonically better than the CD player's internal DAC.  After a period of time, I took a chance and replaced the CD player as a transport with a used 47-Labs Flat-Fish transport and again, heard a noticeable sonic improvement.  Recently, I upgraded to a new CD transport (Jay's-Audio CDT-2 Mk 2), it was obvious that this new transport was sonically better than the 47-Labs transport.  Plus it has several types of outputs rather than just SPDIF.  I'm using the HDMI I2s output from the Jay's-Audio.  The older 47-Labs Flat-Fish is still a good transport, but the Jay's-Audio transport has proven to be more sonically satisfying to me.  If your CD player's transport/circuitry is of really high quality, you may not experience the need for a separate CD transport, however with the number of really high-quality DAC's out there, as well as reasonably priced high-quality CD transports available, you may want to do a comparison for yourself.  I personally don't know of a CD player that matches the sonic quality of a great CD transport and DAC combination.  This is also because I like to spin discs and don't necessarily want to load it into my music-server.  

Confirmation bias is rampant here! If anybody remembers way back Theta sold a transport that was actually a DVD player (intact including front fascia and buttons) inside a metal case for thousands of $$$! The reviewers at TAS loved it - along with other audiophools! Nothing like a fancy case and a high price tag to attract the gullible! It is easier to con someone than to convince someone that they have been conned!

@jasonbourne52

Confirmation bias is rampant here

Yep, here we go again, the tired and lame retort of confirmation bias. When someone is unable to put forth a cogent argument, there’s the good ole fallback position. This shows no respect or acknowledgement of what multiple listeners have heard and experienced . That requires too much thought and contemplation.

It’s much simpler and lazy to just discount what others take the time to post here and report. If it does not fit your belief system and preconceived notions, No problem as it’s merely confirmation bias. A fair number of people have posted their respective results when moving on to or comparison with a better quality CD transport (Same can be said for better music server/streamer). Nope, doesn’t matter as they are all just fooling themselves and delusional. Oh, and of course  the obligatory  " They are foolishly wasting their money ".

Yet for some inexplicable reason the person advocating "There is little to no difference amongst the components " is to be accepted and believed without any push back or question? Really, how So? One aspect that’s rarely acknowledged by those trumpeting confirmation bias is that it can be applied in both directions.

One can be so entrenched in their own beliefs and perspective that they are incapable of accepting any outcome that differs from their predetermined rigid expectations.

Charles