If the DAC is the same, how different do CD transports sound?

The question the OP is posting is about the difference between various CD transports. Level matching does not come into play here. Neither is this a discussion in a difference between CD players.

@hilde45 - there’s a difference between CD transports. Higher end transports use better quality parts, better power supplies as well as better chassis and dampening. This results in improved sound quality.

That being said, the current under $1,000 “budget” transports like the Audiolab, Cambridge and Pro-Ject are really excellent. I checked out a few in my system and if streaming didn’t beat them, I’d definitely go for one of those.

As to A/B testing - quick A/B is never a good way to fully appreciate the differences, blind testing or not. Take your time with each component and trust your ears.

The DAC will make the most difference. In my experience.
With a caveat…you must use a decent CDT…something like the units I mentioned above. Don’t waste money on a good dac if you plan to drive it with a $99 universal player from early 2000s. Just like anything else in this hobby, you can get by but to realize a full potential of any given component the rest of your system must be on the level. 
 

@hilde45 I was thinking about this type of testing where there’s a group of people listening to different components, in this case, transports. 
In my opinion, I would not rely on this type of evaluation:

1. The evaluation is done by a group of people not thoroughly and intimately familiar with the system. 
2. It was a quick A/B type comparison. 
 

Reason why I would not rely on this - 

A listener needs time to evaluate a change brought by a component in a system they are familiar with. This takes hours, if not days, listening to one component then repeating the process with the old component back in its place. Asking a person to evaluate a change in the system they’re not familiar with is not doing anyone or the component any favors. The brain needs time to get a good baseline and in this case, that time isn’t allowed.
For this reason alone, the results of this evaluation are pure entertainment and cary very little, if any, real world value. You have a panel of listeners with too many variables they’re put up against to make a proper judgement call. 

This of course is just my opinion and how I see and treat these types of listening tests. This is also why a blind A/B is bull 💩. It’s too quick and too flawed in its set up and execution. 

@hilde45 not at all what I was trying to convey.
Also, the number of views on the video is not an indication of how accurate the information is. Not sure why you think it’s important.
Looks like you’ve formed your opinion and the conclusion of the experiment described there just feeds into it.
Happy listening!

@hilde45 don’t take it the wrong way, but I think you are too excited to see the conclusion of that video aligned with what you were hoping to hear. In other words you had a biased opinion going in and now it impairs your ability to keep an open mind.

Your argument on why the number of views matters is pretty weak as well. Whether it’s 94k views or 2mil views doesn’t reflect on validity of the message in that video.
If we use number of views as an indication of how valid the information is, then Barbie was and still is a more important historical figure than Oppenheimer.