The DAVE in my setup is rich and tonally dense to my ears. If anything, it can be too much so, at the expense of some separation, nuance, and resolution in the treble.
The Bartok I heard at the shop was the opposite to that, for both the better and for the worse, but as I mentioned, I suspect something about the setup was off.
My impressions tend to line up fairly consistently with that of other audiophile pals when evaluating the same stuff, and I've never heard any credible criticisms of the Bartok sounding like what I heard the other day, so I'm suspecting the tonality issues were due to something particular. It was almost bleached sounding (lacking in color and low-end dynamics). I doubt this is a case of "we all hear different" and all that, but more like, something is actually off about the setup I heard. Though it it was nevertheless able to convey a lot of really interesting qualities that has me very much interested.
If this was a piece of gear in say the $2000-3000 range, I would totally just get it, and proceed on the assumption that I'd be able to set it up to my liking. But with the stakes this high... I totally have to revisit the DAC with the adjustments mentioned earlier (using my own external amp, asking for it to be taken off the power conditioner, possibly trying another headphone as well) to be sure of what I'm now only just assuming -- that it's a DAC that I'm going to like a lot, and more so that what I currently have.