Also bear in mind how the hardware, OS and rendering software is setup can affect the audio. I found the software products can sound different and personal taste plays a role as to what "sounds best". I've also found "best" may change depending on the type of material.
This has absolutely been my experience.
At work I have a MacBook Pro 2010 connected via optical to a Firestone Fubar IV DAC and a pair of Sennheiser HD555 cans ... and in this setup, Fidelia is a vastly superior piece of player software than iTunes/Pure Music. Instruments are better defined, the top end is less muddied, imaging is better. Wow, I thought, those iZotope algorithms really do what they say on the tin, even if a dual-core Core i7 CPU is now running at around 30% utilization to make it work.
But on the home system, it's a whole different story. Using a Mac Pro connected to an MPMax 221 via optical and then to DSP5200s, Fidelia sounds recessed, extremely polite, quite un-involving and the bass response never quite arrives. iTunes/Pure Music is vastly better in the home system.
So next step is to try out one of those Halide Bridge gadgets and see how an async USB connection improves matters in both systems. As Avii says, YMMV.
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