Think we are getting into the pride of ownership territory here ...
I doubt big heavy, beautifully built, optical media transports add much over cheaper versions ...

As the timing and accuracy are all in the electronics

Mojo is right ... the farther down the audio chain it stays digital the better off you are ...
at least in theory .. digital audio can be screwed up by bad digital processing and the final d/a convertion ... so the first component might be the best place to go analog ...