So I can confirm what Steve says about jitter. It's really important.
My Simaudio Moon 260 DT transport is much better than an Oppo for example. I heard the difference Oppo vs. my transport myself on my DAC. The Oppo had more grain, grayer tone colors and less separation of instruments -- more muddle. It was a difference that could easily be heard within seconds, and after a minute it was crystal clear.
The Oppo has jitter of 800 psec, as measured by Steve:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0
The Simaudio Moon transport has about 115 psec jitter from CD, probably quite an engineering feat:
https://www.moremusic.nl/reviews/moon/Moon_neo_260d_HiFiNews.pdf
Recently I got Steve's Empirical Audio Synchro-Mesh reclocker with Dynamo LPS (Linear Power Supply) and his Empirical Audio digital Reference cables. Jitter: 7 psec. It also has a fast rise time of 700psec. Steve says that most transports have rise times of 2nsec, about 3x slower.
I thought perhaps the lower jitter of my transport compared to typical transports is enough for the internal clock of my Yggdrasil DAC to do the rest, whereas it can't quite correct something like the Oppo. I say this because in the beginning I didn't hear much difference. I guess I had expected large differences, but they are more subtle. Certainly more subtle than the difference of my transport vs. Oppo, and between my MIT AES/EBU cable and another, even more expensive one (which turned out to be no good, and now confirmed by hearing what the Synchro-Mesh reclocker does).
Yet my initial hunch turned out right: there is more energy to the sound with the Synchro-Mesh. Today my ears tuned into the differences, and now I can hear them easily. A great CD to demonstrate what is going on is Hilary Hahn's Encores (2-CD set):
https://www.amazon.com/27-Pieces-Hilary-Hahn-Encores/dp/B00EPD3B2W/
with back story on the often super-exciting music:
https://www.npr.org/2013/11/03/2420...ary-hahn-in-27-pieces-the-hilary-hahn-encores
It was best to listen to the Synchro-Mesh reclocker performance by playing one of the 5-minute pieces for violin and piano in its entirety (initially I made the mistake of mostly checking the reclocker performance on snippets of music), and comparing the same piece in its entirety on just the transport -- and going back again. Then you can see that the envelope of energy and dynamics changes. Sharp transients in the high register of the violin are faster and cleaner; in fact overall the sound is cleaner. There is more energy, tension and excitement to the musical performance.
Sound is more transparent, as if a veil is lifted. This is readily audible, for example, on the soft violin sounds in the slow, subtle beginning of Rautavaara's "Whispering" (track 11, CD2). There you also hear more micro-detail of sound from the friction of the bow on the strings.
(Caveat: the YouTube sounds lame, but it gives you an inkling of the music. There are many much more energetic pieces on the CD than this very beautiful piece.)
Now returning to the Simaudio Moon transport via my expensive MIT AES/EBU cable (which did make a good difference compared to other AES/EBU cables) seems simply boring. That's totally funny to me because I had loved my energetic and very, sometimes explosively, dynamic sound, and so had my audiophile friends. But once you hear the difference, you can't go back.
Interestingly, in direct comparison the transport alone with the higher jitter sounds more like vinyl, or shall we say, sub-optimal vinyl, which seems to be loved by many: the sound is "rounder", more "cozy" and "nicer". Yet with the Synchro-Mesh reclocker the sound is more real (I've heard close up live violin). I prefer
real.
Solo piano also benefits. Again more energy and associated dynamics, and hard-hit treble notes are just faster, with removal of a hint of unrealistic "thickness". The low end of the piano also sounds better: less woolly.
I'll find out more about the Synchro-Mesh reclocker performance in other areas, but the above things alone suffice for me.
If you want a great transport, take the one you have and buy the Synchro-Mesh reclocker with Dynamo LPS. You can always return it if you don't like it, it comes with a 30 day return. But if your system has the resolution and dynamics, you won't make use of that policy. It's a keeper.
PS: Steve is nice to deal with.