DACs seem to be a balance of detail vs. musicality which are both attributes which can be good or bad. I personally haven't been able to tolerate the ESS chip based DACs I've heard so far as the detail gets edgy and digital. High sounds actually hurt my ears even if I can't distinguish the top edge. It isn't just ESS chip based DACs that cause problems for me.
Right now, I'm using a PS Audio Directstream mk1 DAC which was modified in a couple of ways to sound close to the mk2. This is a FPGA based DAC which converts all incoming files to DSD. So far it is the perfect blend of significantly more detail than my previous DAC without edgy or bright sound.