What is purpose of a cd transport?

Some people say that a certain cd transport is "good." How can one cd transport be "better" than another?
Isn't their job just to hold/play the disc?

samuellaudio02-10-2006 8:06am

jayboard Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 301 posts 02-19-2006 at 04:58pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Does the apple airport express provide a quick enough & accurate digital signal for DAC purposes? In my system, it certainly sounds like it does. For a published, numbers-based opinion, go to Stereophile's website and search on Airport Express for a 2005 John Atkinson commentary. He says the AX output is bit-by-bit identical to an original WAV file. (Note that this also means Apple Lossless compression is bit-perfect, since iTunes streams everything to AX in AL compressed format.)