Pondering your question got me thinking about optics, like the ones in cameras. Precision optics render sharp images. Dull optics produce errors, particularly at the edges. While maybe irrelevant to CD transports, the precision concept by itself may not be. The transport conveys electrical or optical representations of the ones and zeros, not the numbers themselves. Because the transport performs a translation of the pits and lands embedded in a CD, how well it achieves this feat becomes important. From the responses you can see that not all transports are created equal.
But more to your point, and processing considerations aside, in any piece of audio gear the quality of the parts used, their stability over time, the quality of assembly and the rejection of outside influences like vibration and radio interference, along with cosmetics, play a role in decision making too.
But more to your point, and processing considerations aside, in any piece of audio gear the quality of the parts used, their stability over time, the quality of assembly and the rejection of outside influences like vibration and radio interference, along with cosmetics, play a role in decision making too.