Jitter is the biggie. In non technical terms, it is 0's and 1's, but if the timing of their arrival to the DAC is off or not even or smooth, etc, then the DAC is going to have to work extra hard to turn those messy numbers into music. And down goes the sound quality.
What is the benefit of a good transport?
I'm trying to understand the role of the transport - i.e., what does it need to do and what differentiates one from another? How old is too old when it comes to used transports? I know it reads the disc, but I don't really get how one is different than another. Thanks for any advice.