How important are transports?

I wonder if the difference in sounds with different transports is sometimes related to how the particular transport is polluting the incoming 120v line? I do get a better sound from my system with a JPS labs digital cable connected to the cd player I'm using as a transport (Arcam alpha 10 cd, MF Tri-Vista 21).
Maybe not, but if somebody wanted to explore the notion, there is some info on audio asylum about the JPS labs being just a basic cable with a simple r/c network in one of the plug casings, and I believe you can buy it from the original manufacturer for less than $50.00 US.
Motors and digital devices are inheritantly nasty polluters.

Scrith,

I didn't say that timing was not important or the total problem. I said as long as the one's and zero's are there. In the case of reclocking the signal it gets more complicated than that. There is a reason we use stratum clocks in the tellecommunications industry at both ends of the signal.

So I will say it again, as long as the one's and zero's are there. Then you get into the checksum software you used to varify the correct reading of the bits. Did it read the bit length?

The transport and the cable can and do make a big difference.

One more question, I like the dvd audio a lot, is there a dvd player I could use as a transport that would be as high of quality as some of the transports mentioned above? Thanks

I've been reading about modders like Audioengineer(Steve) AKA Empirical audio that have tested some of there modded players before and after a clock upgrade.Their results show the jitter dropped dramaticlly coming out of the S/PDIF output.My guess is it shouldn't be difficult to get a dvd player to perform as well or better than some stand alone transports.

Jeff_jones - No, It is not the AC power "pollution". It is generally the jitter spectrum that varies from one transport to the next and the edge-rate of the S/PDIF signal, as well as the impedance mismatch. I have found lots of transport S/PDIF outputs that are not even remotely matched to 75 ohms characteristic impedance.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer