I'm being a little too critical but in MY experience I can hear a difference but not necessarily an improvement with DSD/SACD over PCM. If I do hear an improvement, it was probably because the DSD/SACD was from a remastered recording - in which case the PCM (CD) version is also improved.
This brings me back many many years when audiophiles were all starry-eyed over the sound of SACD discs compared to playing back the redbook CD layer on the same player. I didn't think that was a fair comparison because the player makers had a vested interest in making certain that SACD sounded fantastic while paying little attention to the player's redbook CD quality.
A more fair comparison would be to compare a good SACD on a SACD player compared against the CD layer played back on a good high-end CD-only player, like the Accuphase you own.
In any case, I do find that some DSD is artificially overly smooth to my ears.... when smooth was never the intent.
