The term Classical music covers a pretty wide area. With Classical you are dealing with recording un-amplified instruments, so the recording process is more difficult than plugging in some amps.
It could be he didn't like the sound of the Brass section; the horns are not always miked correctly. A mic placed too close results in a raspy sound; in this case the fault lies in the recording. But some DACs reproduce horns better than others.
Also, the sound of a violin or massed strings can sound harsh, or can sound warm and sweet according to the capability of the DAC (and the rest of the components). In troubleshooting a problem like this it may not be the DAC that's at fault, but possibly the preamp or a cable.
For the best SQ, the DAC needs to be asynchronous, which the current generations are. Good reproduction depends on how well the unit can remove jitter.
It could be he didn't like the sound of the Brass section; the horns are not always miked correctly. A mic placed too close results in a raspy sound; in this case the fault lies in the recording. But some DACs reproduce horns better than others.
Also, the sound of a violin or massed strings can sound harsh, or can sound warm and sweet according to the capability of the DAC (and the rest of the components). In troubleshooting a problem like this it may not be the DAC that's at fault, but possibly the preamp or a cable.
For the best SQ, the DAC needs to be asynchronous, which the current generations are. Good reproduction depends on how well the unit can remove jitter.