ASurfer,
I would agree on DACS all having incredibly flat response and something as gross as "weight" should be a wash on anything with any sort of decent output buffer. I mean just a reasonable 15 cent OP-amp. The 10 cent one may not do. Should, that does not mean all do. Most modern DACS are very good. THD numbers I would have a hard time believing 10 years ago, but commodity produced now.
But don't tell me I can't hear the difference in the midrange sibilance and harshness. I can. Reliably and it is not even close. My wife can from the other room even when she does not know I swapped them. Don't tell Dan he does not hear a difference because you can't. Only he knows.
Everyone hears differently. To blanketly dismiss others hearing is naïve at best and darn right arrogant actually. There is more to learn, but when you know you are absolutely right and dismiss everyone else, you will never learn anything. You have no evidence we can't hear either. Science is about learning. What I hear in DACS is most obvious on Ladies of The Canyon and Billy Joel 42 St. Many other recordings do sound identical. What causes the difference I do not know so I do not ascribe magic or some feature like the clock with no basis even if I suspect it may be related.
My number of posts do not make me any smarter, and neither do yours you. Someday everything may be so good they will all sound the same. Not quite yet. Close, but not yet. Maybe close enough for you to the benefit of your budget. For me, I found a DAC and AMP that to my ears are "good enough:" They also measure well. So I can concern myself with the next speaker build.
My mention of posts numbers wasn't about knowing more, because I know full well that there are many members here, and at head-fi with less posts who know far more than I'll ever know. I accept that, and frankly don't care. My point was that I've read thousands of posts from the subjectivists who are immune to science and here I don't have to pretend that it is all about what people feel. I believe in the scientific method, I believe in valid testing procedures producing valid evidence. I don't care at all about who thinks they hear what. If they haven't proven it through proper testing they might as well spit in the wind.
I don't think there is much evidence to support a special minority of people with extra special hearing. I accept that there will be a degree of variability with some people being in the upper ranges, some in the lower ranges and even some extreme outliers. Saying that, all will still be fairly tightly bound by the very finite abilities of the hearing brain wherever they occur on the continuum of hearing acuity. Regardless, if they have no evidence their claims of special discriminatory ability means nothing. Talk is always cheap in that respect, action speaks louder than words they say. If people want to make extraordinary claims, no problem, just don't tell me I have to believe their claims and that I am not allowed to point out the difference between assumption and evidence. At head-fi I'm not allowed, here, it is actually welcomed.
There was nothing in my posts that were challenging or controversial. If you have two audibly transparent DACs without coloured analogue output stages, you will not have audible differences.