Doesn't DAC Do Heavy Lifting vs. Transport?

They do make a considerable difference, unfortunately no good cheap ones I know of. Last summer I took a transport and several DACs over to a friend who uses a universal player. He is an experienced audiophile and didn't expect much if any difference. He was surprised that he could hear a considerable difference and thought that the transport made more difference than the DAC after listening to several combinations.

Like you, I assumed that the DAC, not the transport, did the "heavy lifting." That is until I improved my transport with the addition of a reclocker, which lowered the jitter. The improvements were far from subtle. They included: greater perceived resolution, less high frequency shrillness, and better image focus.

My conclusion: The transport is very important. Is it more important than the DAC? I don't know. It probably depends on which DAC and which transport.

If the DAC is playing music from a buffer, then aren't the only requirements placed on the transport that it 1) keeps the buffer full and 2) doesn't pass incorrect data? So then, what the heck does it matter about jitter?