I am surprised by your findings, but what sounds best is always subjective and what I heard was in a different context. I heard the top Auralic streamer as a potential source to my Chord system and was extremely disappointed with it. I compared a CD playing on Blu2 CD transport with the same CD accurately ripped and fed into Blu2 from the Auralic.
I outlined the music I use for auditioning in another thread - please tap or click.
I didn’t listen to Auralic’s DAC, so might have had a different imoression if I had.