How easily can you distinguish between different DACs?

The technology behind DAC is way more advanced than it was 10 years ago. You can get a DAC with a 120 dB signal to noise ratio no larger than a thumb drive. It is at the point were all dacs operating at the same rates do exactly the same thing, accurately crunch number. Any sonic difference is in the analog section and all sorts of Tomfoolery can be done there to produce a "house" sound. Personally, I do not want the house sound. I want THE sound without any pontification. 

@mijostyn  so you just choose the DAC that has the output stage built on the chip because it measures great, would you buy a preamp that uses an opamp output stage because it measures better than a discreet output stage?

One time at Axpona , I am listening to all Denafrips DAc from Ares to Terminator. As you move up sound and performance changed. They all sound good. In that set up the Ares sound bigger, but the Terminator sounds is more sophisticated. I end up buying the Ares. I still have it.

Bigkidz agree if can’t hear the difference stick on what you have, until your listening skills improve.Thats what I did by the way.

despite my having tried so so many dacs in the last few years, i would say that a decent dac in the $1000-2500 range will quite fully please most folks here with good systems in, say, the $5,000-$25,000 range... yes there are a few bad ones out there (sonically) but most sound quite good and the differences in sound between the good ones can be rather subtle to most... please see my original thread for further comments on specific dacs

i pursued the vast dac trials mostly out of interest (and sheer boredom during the covid shut-in period), and a desire for learning just what the span of sonic performance is among dacs.... in the last few months i have done no new dac trials, and i have left a gustard r26 and a chord qutest plugged in, with my high dollar dacs put aside (msb, weiss etc)... i am just listening to music, not the gear, and i am very very happy enjoying ith either the chord or the r26

i would say among good dacs, the feature set and form factor should drive the choice, once you have decided if you want a dac that is sonically in the sharper vs smoother school of presentation...