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

I am of the opinion that competently designed DACs have been sounding the same for over 10 years (provided the design goal is total linearity).
If a user prefers a certain coloration, a certain design, or certain features - hey, all the power to them and that’s also why there are many choices.
My last DAC acquisition was in 2023 or so, a JDS Labs Element 3 for my home office workstation. It has all sorts of filter tuning and you can do things like EQ or add H2/H3 harmonics... but I simply haven’t touched anything after the novelty of having those choices wore off.

The digital part is thoroughly transparent, always. The only thing that matters is the analog output, and that's where we measure the transparency (or not) of a DAC. Of course there could be some sort of contamination (as with everything analog), but it would be captured in measurements. DACs imo have been a thoroughly solved problem for a long time. It's not where I'd want to tune my system to have a signature... amp and speakers... sure. I am not saying I believe utter transparency should be everybody's ideal. :-)