D70S user here and in my system it performs well. I had a previous dac which used dual ESS chips and I liked it as well. Prefer the D70S for music but either works well for soundtracks.
My Hegel h160 uses an AKM chip in its' dac section which sounds great as well. In comparison to the D70S, the D70S has more bass/midbass emphasis and a bit less instrument separation and yields a bit warmer sound. The Hegel is a bit cooler, emphasizes instruments a bit more in sharpness and has a bit more treble extension. I found myself preferring one or the other depending on music.
They are fairly close to performance but those are the differences I noticed.
The D70S is hooked up to a Keces E40 which together drive Focal 807W speakers. Also drove many other combos well including MA Silver 100s 6th Ed.
Not bad for a budget system.
PS I once had a Marantz CD 5000 which used the Philips TDA 1549 DAC. While the stage size was smaller, the tone was just so nice. Wish I never sold it.