Problem with dac/ cd transport / streamer sound differences

Hello everyone,
I don’t know exactly where to post, so I post here and in “misc audio” as I know not everyone is watching everywhere

Seems I have a big problem in my chain, but please let me first list my gears :

CD  player Moon 260d used as a transport (but equipped with the Dac) => s/pdif Shunyata Alpha bnc => DAC Chord Hugo TT2 + mscaler => Cardas Golden ref. xlr => Mcintosh c2700 => cardas parsec xlr => Coda 16.0 => Cardas Golden ref. => Magnepan 20.7

While I realized I was not experiencing a difference between mscaler in or out the chain (yes I know some may argue mscaler is bs) , I was not either perceiving a tangible difference between the moon 260d used as a transport or the streamer Aurender N150 (on the same songs indeed).
 

So I started to suspect a bottleneck in the chain somewhere… as I expected the cd transport with a physical media to perform better than a streamer.

This afternoon, I did some experiments:

• plug the 260d as a cd player straight to the preamp using its internal dac
• plug the 260d as a transport to the TT2 (not using the mscaler) using the shunyata alpha bnc spdif
• plug the 260d as a transport to the internal dac of the mcintosh c2700 using a cheap spdif cable (internal dac is a da2)

i couldn’t hear any difference or nuances between the 3. If there was then I could hardly perceive maybe a little subtile more air using the TT2…but not that obvious.

I have always heard any difference in the past on any of my components (even on cables….) but here I don’t understand what is happening.

could it be the transport is the bottleneck and as such any dac will not make any difference ?

could it be that I should unplug the internal dac inside the 260d as it is influencing the sound as a transport only in some ways ?

I am really disappointed and lost. Should I sell my TT2 , mscaler and plug everything in the da2 of the preamp c2700.

or is it the transport being the weak link and finally whatever dac I am using (200 or 5000$), there is no difference

that really doesn’t make sense.

Any advice / feedback from real experienced, senior specialists ?