This may be a sideways answer, but here it is: the biggest transformation I've had in audio came not from a single device, but from changing to a new class of devices. Specifically, when I stopped using various delta-sigma DACs and started using multibit or NOS DACs, everything changed.
Admittedly I never had the funds or the space to ride the delta-sigma elevator to penthouse level; allegedly some of the large, expensive d-s implementations rock one's world. But when I ditched midrange d-s for midrange mutibit or NOS DACs, my entire relationship with digital changed. I simply stopped wincing when I turned up the volume; stopped dreading that moments when the massed violins get their loudest; stopped accepting that dry, unreal tonality and timbre.
I now own 3 NOS DACs and have a 4th in house for review (a loaner). They don't sound identical; some of the differences are meaningful to me. But as a class, these four are far better than any delta-sigma DAC I ever heard, and far easier to live with.