If abstract items such as bits in a digital stream are measured as being equal, then they are equal. It’s a mathematical tautology. Debating that means you don’t understand digital streams. If you are finding differences in the sound results, then you have either measured wrong, or you have external factors outside the digital stream of bits that are impacting the SQ. Note, that the bits are not being perceived by your brain, there are many many analog stages between the bitstream and your brain, and all may be impacted as a side effect of some other process.
For example, imagine if processing the bits one way used more CPU cycles than another way (and therefore more heat), and that heat caused expansion of some analog component near by. That might alter the sound. The bits can still stay bits and be bits all along, but the sound could be very different. Getting the bits right is a requirement (because garbage in, garbage out), but once the bits have been delivered, the analog components must make sure they don’t screw it up (and the DAC chip is an analog device (by virtue of not being able to error correct the digital side).
The crazy part in in the above example is that you could argue that “more processing power required” is equal to “bad SQ” in this one setup, but putting a more efficient CPU in there could also fix the SQ equally as reducing CPU load or moving the analog components far away. Which is right? The one that sounds good.