Dedicated CD Transport vs DAC

Assuming you mean a CD player and not "quality dedicated CD Transport " as Transports do not have much of a sound on their own as they do not have a DAC in them.  

From my experience if the Transport is decent enough not to put errors or other anomalies on the output then the DAC is the go-to place for sound quality.  

I f you have a good CD player or transport now, upgrading the DAC will be the largest improvement in sound quality. Do not skimp on a DAC cheap ones will not get you close to your vinyl rig. Good ones will get you there or beyond. 

In my experience, a better transport will simply extract more data from the disc. How much improvement YOU will hear, I can’t say. Consider the fact that the transport is first in the chain. 

With DACs, the sky’s the limit. The good news is that it’s not necessary to spend near as much on the transport. Buy something like a Jay’s CDT2MKIII and you’ll be set, no matter which DAC you end up with.

@glennewdick No question that the DAC is more important however if you have had a decent transport and then swapped in a better transport the impact is quite noticeable and shouldn’t be discounted 

DAC is the heart of the modern system.