The first time I heard a digital to analog converter was in the 80s.  A girlfriend asked me to help pick new speakers.  The place played a then new CD through some bookshelves we were looking at and I had him turn it off and play the radio.  The digital spikes almost had my ears bleeding, and I did loud live sound several times a week.  Conversion has gotten much ... smoother since then.

I ran a recording studio for years and there was a big difference in mic preamps between hardware. 
I don't find as much difference now between DA converters.
I did find a subtle difference between by Zoom R24 and the newer UR44 I bought to replace it. The UR44 sounded more direct and present to me. 
I don't think I could tell the difference between the newer DAC's now. 

i hear it.
not a'bing single sources against each other,
but listening to entire collections of tracks across a mix.
 
the buildup of 'sonics' from the quality of the converter really shows up with this kind of comparison.
it's a cumulative thing.

batsbrew
i hear it.
not a'bing single sources against each other,
but listening to entire collections of tracks across a mix.
 
the buildup of 'sonics' from the quality of the converter really shows up with this kind of comparison.
it's a cumulative thing.

But there could also be a noise floor component in this because summing tracks with a lower noise floor will sound cleaner..

not if you mind your gain stages and have clean captures,
as you always should.
 

There may be an audible difference but beyond that there's quality of components, dependability, features, driver stability, customer service, and of course... most importantly... the NAME!

AT
The first time I heard a digital to analog converter was in the 80s.  A girlfriend asked me to help pick new speakers.  The place played a then new CD through some bookshelves we were looking at and I had him turn it off and play the radio.  The digital spikes almost had my ears bleeding, and I did loud live sound several times a week.  Conversion has gotten much ... smoother since then.

I had one of these in the mid 80s. It had digital speakers that sounded better than anything else that size back then. They had a hefty price but I'd buy another one.

Holy mother of God it's made of Casio!