I've only skimmed all the answers, but here's my two pence...
I own the Audiolab 6000CDT transport. It is excellent, really really excellent...
It is fed into a decent DAC (I have two options of which) and it sounds really great.
This transport replaced two different players I owned, an Arcam one (I forget the model) and a Denon professional DN680, both tried as CD players and also just as transports. Neither of these was close in performance to the Audiolab, with the Denon being the better of the two.
However, compared to my preferred streaming medium, both players sounded like they were coming from behind a curtain. There, but just muffled and not clear by comparison. The Audiolab in contrast fed straight into my DAC (as is my streamer also) is an equal. This brings my CD collection back to life.
I have a pretty decent system in my opinion, so results may vary for others. But for me it's very clear that digital is not just digital. Not all transports are the same and do not give the same result. The Audiolab though is excellent and comfortably worth its price tag.