compact cd transport

The Project I have only seen in ads and it looks well built

Woo Audio has a small chassis top loader that LOOKS beautiful ... it is a transport/DAC combo

an older CAL Delta Sigma or Alpha combo might work

There is always the option of a Mac Mini but you would need a DAC with that too

cal delta/sigma looks good indeed and sounds good, but works mostly poor in terms of reliability.

Cambridge Audio Sonata is compact.

Just going by your thread title, for a compact cd transport i'd recommend the Bel Canto CD-3T which is a perfect partner to any of the Bel Canto dacs. If you want a recommendation for a compact integrated player, i'd go with the Bel Canto CD-2 which uses a nude Phillips Pro2LM transport (similar to Ancient Audio). Speaking of which, you could also consider a 2nd hand AA Lektor IV which has an integrated valve line stage & is fully upgradeable to Lektor V, however I think that player will be too big based on your criteria. Later on I plan on adding a Bel Canto integrated amp & dac as the basis of a nice Desktop system. My Dealer now carries that line which is good.

I have a sweet Stello April music transport I picked up on agon a while back. The Woo transport looks (and sounds) good as well.

Lots of great ideas, all. The Woo is gorgeous, I agree. Still slightly too big for my space. The Transport can't be more than 10" deep, which really limits the options. I'll check the specs on some of these other suggestions. with thanks...mc