CD TRANSPORT THAT MAKES AN AUDIBLE DIFFERENCE

Bits are bits.  Even a 50c computer drive can read at <1 error per million.

Spend all your dough on DA converters.  That's where the evil of digital lies.

I own an older two chassis Metronome, Audiomeca Mephisto II, and have owned CEC Tl-5100 and TL5 all used as transports.  The Audiomeca was the best of the bunch for overall musicality.  The Metronome was also very nice just a tad warmer.  Unfortunately it is an older players now.  The CEC TL-5100 was also very nice for the price but again an older unit.

The CEC TL3N is excellent, and the Project Audio transport was our favorite that simply was an instant sonic difference maker in about three system we tried it in.  There was no going back and forth, it was simply the nicest sounding of them all.  The lower priced transports are nice for the money but the Project was the one to purchase.  The Jays was good, very dynamic but was not as musical as the older Metronome which we felt the Project was in another league all together. 

Happy Listening. 

IMO It’s only a half-baked question and resulting half-baked equation …ya don’t hear or process the laser-read 1’s and 0’s digital bits alone, and it needs to be converted into analogue first,

Hence, a careful matching of a transport to its stablemate DAC ( stratified into various pricepoint strata) comparison, is the better question.

Ignoring the Captain Obvious step-up in audio performance from a stepped up build transport mated to a high-end build DAC;

- is a high(er) end transport feeding a cheap(er) budget DAC gonna make you better off comparatively…. or

- is a high-end DAC with a cheap transport system pairing gonna satisfy or improve your satisfaction quotient?

I can only tell you about what I know. I used to have a Cambridge transport and went to a Jay's CDT2-MK3. The difference is simply phenomenal. In this case you get what you pay for is real.

As good as the Cambridge or other drive is there is the possibility of jitter going to the DAC. I use 2 old Monarchy anti jitter devices in series(with good cables) and that seems to produce improved sound.