The only difference between good and cheap transport is amount of jitter it produces. Jitter rejecting upsampling DACs like Benchmark have so low jitter bandwidth (few Hz) that at frequency of interest (kHz) jitter rejection is in order of 100dB. In addition jitter induced artifacts (jitter=noise in time domain) are, even with poor transport at the level of -80dB. Bel Canto DAC3 is also upsampling and jitter rejecting AFAIK. If you decide to get different type of DAC (like NOS DAC) then get very good transport and good digital cable with good shielding and impedance maching (signal reflects on impedance boundaries).
Which matters more, DAC or transport?
In my search to better the digital playback of my system I've been lead to look at several DACs to couple with my arcam cd36, and have also considered buying a whole new player like a McIntosh mcd 201 or maybe even a lower end esoteric. My question is: will I get better results using a good DAC (for $2000 to $3000) with my mid-fi transport or with a new player that has a better transport mechanism built in, coupled with what's probably a slightly less sophisticated onboard DAC? Also, what do people think of the Bel Canto DAC3? It's one I've considered. Thanks.