How do you know if it's a good DAC, mediocre DAC or hyped DAC? There is a circuit designed to bridge the dac and your ears, and in between many things come into play (caps or no caps, op amps, etc). When the sound is coloured along the audio path, the end results may not be a true reflection of the DAC performance. It's more about execution of the design and implement of the audio path. That said, there are dudes who enjoy certain types of coloured sound (aka EQ'ed, either knowingly or unknowingly thru hardware or software, which is perfectly normal) and the hype might just capitalize on selling the dac or whatever.