Reference Transports: An overall perspective

Do the TEAC VRDS units have a particular sound?
I know that the TEAC digital products themselves have a 'house sound' but I'm wondering if anyone has used one of these tranpsorts with a DAC that is not made by TEAC.

Also, do these transports upsample the signal before they send it on to a DAC?

Anyone know what transport sounds good with Zanden DACs (other than the Zanden 2000 transport, of course)?

Henry,
You are right about the transports but some would say that Accuphase, Zanden, Kondo, Goto, and ALE and do a pretty good job in some of those other categories as well. As you said, 'there are exceptions.'

John,
Thanks for the link. That really does put things in perspective.

I finally came back to this post after starting it way back in March. I'm sure no one is still following it but if they are, here is my take (to quote Lktanx with an important modification):

"Here is a very simple example of why a transport makes [A] difference."
In real life any fool with a pair of ears can hear that some with error free output sound like crap and some with error free output sound like music.

Yes, pragmatism, empiricism, and experimentation are all that I have to offer.

One can continue to argue that transports SHOULDN'T make a difference but to argue that they don't make a difference is simply un-scientific:
1. You've hypothesized that transports shouldn't make a difference to the way CDs sound;
2. You run a controlled experiment where you test your hypothesis;
3. The experiment shows that there is an enormous difference in the way two transports sound (even though both provide 'error free' output to the DAC).
4. You must scrap your hypothesis and move on.