the quality of your transport will make little to no difference in sound if you have a 1.5K DAC in a 8K system (or in a lesser system). Only when you are at much higher-level of equipment will the subtle differences within transports be audible. Assuming the cheaper transport/CD player is decent, the money you would have to spend to upgrade the sound through an improved transport is not money well spent -- greater differences for less $ can be made in upgrades elsewhere.
Transport for CD's
Do they make any difference? I've seen comparisons of similarly priced players used as transports (usually the lower end of the spectrum) and the buzz was that there was no or insignificant difference, but what about comparing a $400 blu-ray to a 1500 dollar player or transport. Do you think there is any difference when either is used just as a transport with an external DAC?