Is there any such thing as a bad sounding DAC these days?

Yes many lower cost dacs are flat not that warm sounding to start with.under $1k

This brand many have not heard and is very good in all his price groups the MK2  i

am purchasing this week ,it is the most rewarding dac I have found under $10 k 

https://en.merason.com/

That being said 15 years ago there we’re great sounding dacs                            Mark Levinson 31 , there were many Multibit ladder chips out there from              Burr Brown , and Analog devices , even Phillips