Dont know - I was thinking a few things - one is as you start to take noise out and start to improve sound it can sound less dynamic and less "showy"
Once you have adjusted to the better sound when you go back to the "showy" sound it sounds familiar and nice and appealing but you know its not better.
Thats a very general thing for everything. Dacs in particular have the power to demosntarte this the easiest but its the same for everything.
The other thing is - as things get more honest you actually start to hear the bits of the system more - and maybe they are not as good as you thought - something else to consider.
The other thing is try the amp plugged into the strip on its own - when you start daisy chaining on one mains block it undoes a lot of the benefit - hence why people think plugging the amp in the wall is better. Its not its just getting it away from the other circuits in close proximity imo. Each plug needs seperating from the other ideally and yet they need to share a common ground - hence another issue lol
I wouldnt let it worry you - just dont rule out the whole market on 1 experience, keep an open mind. Lots of good ones out there again imo and fun to try