The noise floor seemed to be about the same. And yes, it's obviously cleaner. It's like the difference of listening to song at 128 bit on a good system, and then listening to the same song but at 256 bit...An obvious difference. The Driverack seems easier to use, but only at first. Within minutes you'll be movin' around in the DCX just as fast as in the Driverack.
Now I'm not bashing the Driverack units at all, in fact I bet the 260 sounds even better than the DCX. But for the money, and given the feature set, I'd bet the DCX would give the 260 a run for it's money.
As far as the frying egg sound, I heard the crackling with mine, so I immediately searched for the fix. Fishpaper, or any non-conductive material placed under the XLR board fixes the problem. For months now since fixing it, mine has been out in the clubs atleast 2 nights a week, without a single crackle or pop.