My impression is that I can only judge the "rightness" of tone when I hear it. As others have said, some recordings will never sound real on any system. Every so often everything aligns and I hear something reproduced that sounds incredibly real to my ears. I've found voices, piano and the sound of people clapping to be difficult to reproduce with a realistic sounding tone. Vinyl typically is more likely to sound realistic to me in tone than digital.
FWIW, I've been listening to some different DACs recently and the Denafrips Pontus II sounds incredibly real in tone to my ears. The Chord Qutest did not inspire that same feeling of realism for me.
FWIW, I've been listening to some different DACs recently and the Denafrips Pontus II sounds incredibly real in tone to my ears. The Chord Qutest did not inspire that same feeling of realism for me.