How easily can you distinguish between different DACs?

On some DAC’s it’s night and day and some it’s very subtle.  For example, I have a Schiit Bifrost and a Denafrips Pontus ll and they are night and day different! 

They don't sound the same to me at all even at approximately the same price range. Right now I'm comparing a Denafrips Pontus ll against a Tubadour lll which are both R2R.Initial impression is the Tubadour is clearer with a cleaner attack. The Denafrips rounds the edges off.It reminds me so much of a CJ (tubed) preamp I owned years ago.Quite a surprise.One is not better than the other,just different. It's easy to tell the difference even with my old ears.No way I could afford a 12k dac,even though I'm curious,but not enough to search one out.

No two most anything ever sound exactly the same but the good news is that it’s getting harder to find a bad sounding DAC these days. It’s more of a personal preference thing. Digital streaming technology overall is very mature these days and the wide range of quality products at all price points reflects that.

On a scale of 1 to 10 speakers are a ten in terms of being able to discern differences. Amplifiers are an 8. DACs are more like a 4-5.  

You have received some insightful comments to your question.

My experiences mirror @mikelavigne (i.e., "most dacs are decent"), @czarivey's comments on "voltage output", and @ghdprentice regarding the presence of "distortion and high frequency trash".

Of the better DACs I have owned and/or auditioned for a time in my own system, they all sounded mostly "acceptable" yet there were indeed differences that in my world typically lean toward the perception of either greater resolution or tonal density.  I don't care for what some may characterize as "warmth," as I believe that indicates clouded clarity, probably resulting from distortion.  I want clarity that a high S/N provides, but the absence of tonal density and dynamics/impact are deal-breakers for me.  I do believe you can mostly have both but you may need to settle just a little on one side or the other and, if the DAC sounds good, you will likely forget about those nuances after owning it for a while.  The DACs I like seem to display a rich tonal density and dynamics/power fully across the volume range, i.e., you don't have to chase the volume control to achieve impact and tonal color.  My goals are more about getting the midrange and bass right, but the high frequencies need to sound natural without roughness caused by "distortion and high frequency trash" .  Clearly, the rest of the system needs to be able to keep up.

IME, there are certainly audible differences that you can notice upon first listening to different DACs.  However, in many cases with better DACs, the differences may be subtle so you may need to listen for a while and do some A/B comparisons to pinpoint exactly what the differences are and how they affect your listening enjoyment.

A good friend of mine (and A'goner)  did a dac comparo some time ago.  A Mytec Brooklyn Bridge, a Chord Cutest and a Bryston BDA-3.  The differences were easily discernable particularly on strings and cymbals. The Bryston came out on top as sounding very natural.

Same friend told me about a Wiim dac that was on sale on Amazon $175 because I I was looking for a dac for my garage system.  He calls me the next day and says "Don't even open the box, this thing is a piece of $&%*@!"  So, its on the way back unopened.

Yes, dacs sound different.  I would imagine that once you get to >$10,000 range the differences may come down to preference and not to explicit "better or worse".

Regards,

barts