@chadsort , Accuphase does use off the shelf DAC chips, however quite a few in parallel to cancel out errors as the conversion is completed, plus a few other methods, see here on how this is accomplished.
@garebear , it's unfortunate that in the US, the price of Accuphase in the past is double that of Japan, tantamount to extortion. At high prices the brand does not gain much traction in the US, however in Europe, Australia, Malaysia and of course Japan, the brand is very well known for many years now. If Hifi shark is visited, Accuphase products are mainly offered from Europe and Japan, the used prices from the US are still over and above new prices anywhere else.
I bought my first E-205 amp in 1988, still have it and it works, a testament to reliability. Also E-450 integrated, P-4200 Power, C-2420 Pre, DP-720 SACD, DC-901 DAC & T-1100 tuner, so, very familiar with the sound. The DP-720 and the DC-901 are similar, however the main differences with the DC-901 are positional accuracy and spacing of instruments in the vector space away from the centre image with uncanny accuracy. This is of course with very good recordings of which only a handful really exist!
I play both CDs, SACD, and digital from a Lumin U1 streamer, power cables are mainly Oyaide Tunami, Furutech silver, signal cables are all Accuphase grey and blue RCA, gray XLR.
I haven't heard Esoteric gear, so difficult to compare SQ. Like Esoteric, Accuphase make their own drive mechanism, not some pressed steel rubbish that looks fine in a computer. Often users of Accuphase sell their equipment, then deeply regret that decision, so I keep all my gear, still used.
Not a point sonically, but I couldn't live with the design of Esoteric gear, far too rounded, much rather prefer classic traditional audio.
Digital gear from Accuphase is certainly worth the audition. Accuphase amps tend to be matched with B&W gear for some reason, I have used KEF reference instead and enjoy them every day. Feed them good music, and they sing. Compared to Playback Designs MPD-3, Accuphase digital is night and day. The MPD-3 is sitting in a corner, the DA doesn't work any more, garbled audio coming out of it.
FWIW, Damien Plisson founder of Audirvana has an Accuphase E-650 integrated for listening to the software he develops.