got a new transport to go along with the CEC DA53 dac. the build seems pretty nice (for a sub $1000 component that is) and so far I like the features and layout.
it uses a belt-driven CD transport and comes with AES/EBU, optical, coaxial, and superlink (CEC's proprietary output using a d-sub 9-pin connector) outputs.
haven't used it too much, and I don't have much equipment to use it with until I get back to the states (currently only have a Grace 901 to use as the dac and amp), but so far the sound is nice and seems to be a good complement to the dac.
I'll put up pictures of it and some impressions later.