Streaming Transport without DAC- few choices

Sonore opticalRendu or ultraRendu

Lumin U1 Mini — most dealers will discount and bring it under 2k

iFi just released their new ZEN Stream which looks nicely done for $399 .. WiFi & ethernet connections, USB & SPDIF out, and sans DAC to name a few features.

https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-stream/

If you're interested in Roon, they have a Nucleus which hosts their software and acts as a streamer for $1500.

At one point in time I had a mac mini with audirvana feeding a Berkeley alpha usb which was feeding a Berkeley alpha dac. Out of boredom I purchased a Raspberry PI and installed Roppieexl to try streaming. I then compared the direct Mac connection with the Mac streaming to the Raspberry pi connected to the Berkely. I found minimal sound differences between the two setups.

op

you mean a streamer, or a transport?

you said 'transport' in your title, that means something that will spin a cd and read the bits on it...