Interesting thread.
So I`s say:
Warnes: A=reference (pretty confident)
... alright, it ends there. If that is in fact correct (confirmation?), there is an easy way to cheat.
Well, if my assumption is correct that means that I was right with Jennifer Warnes, wrong on Cowboy Junkies, can't tell with Bob Marley (the reference sounds bad already), I guess I was right on Phil Woods(?), Ry Cooder I couldn't really tell though the recording is pretty good.
How and what tonal differences I'm able to pick upon is definately dependent on the very different headphones I use. My DAC/amp don't degrade the signal audibly, so thats out of the picture.
In any case, the conversion doesn't make much of a difference if any, that's much less of an impact than I would have expected - though theoretically it makes sense I guess, 86dB SINAD is not bad, seeing that number I wouldn't really expect much audible difference. Theere is no way most people would pick up on this under normal listening conditions with typical equipment.