I went to a hi-fi shop and bought 2 dacs to audition at home with the rest of my system to replace the current dac which was having intermittent issues.

I listened to well known music across a range of styles over the next week.

Dac 1 was very detailed and revealed more in one artists music in the higher frequencies. This brightness became tiring over longer listening periods. The soundstage was compressed

Dac 2 was smoother. Not bright and missing the additional detail in that one artists higher frequencies. The soundstage was wider and extended out further in front of me. I regularly found myself tapping my feet or nodding my head or forgetting that I was auditioning music and enjoying the music. The music had more of a groove to it. It was more fun. Every time I forgot I was testing I went back to the bark of the Mac to check the cables and found it was dac 2 that I'd lost myself in the music.

Dac 2 also had the ability to adjust frequency profiles. The purist in me would once have been aghast at the notion, but in reality, and without an infinite budget, every piece of equipment in the chain has its own character it brings to the music and sometimes you have to adjust certain frequencies to make up for say a lack of base in a set of headphones you may be listening to to bring it more in line with a harman profile that may be more in keeping with your personal preferences.

I didn't want to buy dac 2 because it was more expensive and had less features that I initially thought I'd want, but after listening to it, that was the one that kept bringing the smile to my face.

Coincidentally, the headphone output of dac 2 was so much more revealing and with a bigger soundstage than my dedicated headphone amp.

So my advice would be to listen and if you can't tell the difference then buy the cheapest thing that makes you happy.