DAC ignorance

[the caretaker]

Topping D10 is ok, if you don't like the sound of it..it also acts as a converter for dacs which don't have a usb input..those old 48k dacs can sound magnificent with a converter!
My recommendation would be a Beresford caiman dac ( add a Beresford Dorado capacitor thingy ) very nice sound for not much money..

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

I disagree with @Jim Audiomisc that they're akin to tone controls. In my view and experience they definitely are not. But some will produce slightly more roll-off than others and also transients will be perceived differently, decays will be more obvious. My file playback software allows me to choose between a dozen filters and as many noise shaping algorithms. In my system with my DAC the differences between most are audible, some of them more than just slight.
Same with using my DAC's SDM on-board modulator vs. upconverting to DSD with the file player.

"Tone Controls" doesn't only mean ye olde "Bass and Treble". It also means any kind of circuit that alters the frequency/phase response to an audible extent. cf. The QUAD 34 for example. Noise shaping is different as its aim is to alter the spectrum of the background dither/noise caused by the *processing*. Not that of the input signal. So is used for resampling or when recording. However 'noise' in the source comes though. It is just the reprocessing noise that gets shuffled.