I bought my mahogany Standard locally, minty used, at my great local shop back when they came out during that brief window of time. My wife happened to be with me. I played it for about a minute... (I am already pretty thrilled at the tone and responsiveness)... looked up, and she had 'that' look on her face: "What do you want to do?" There were no doubts in either of our minds. The Standard was simply that special and that was that. (Yes, my wife is simply way too supportive!)
A year later, loving my Special so much, I had since decided to also try and find a nice maple-topped DGT. I soon found a beautiful 10-Top 'burst online and bought that one. It was fantastic, too, but it sounded noticeably different (exactly what I'd been hoping for, of course, because who needs two identical-sounding guitars? Not me); the 'burst had a somewhat brighter and twangier tone overall, but of course, along with the best any great PRS offers besides. I love both my DGTs but differently, and in a "house-on-fire" scenario, it would pain me to do so, but I'd be grabbing the Standard, both due to the tones as well as the relative scarcity of that particular species of DGT.
One night, I was playing along to an album just for fun (as I will do every few months or so), and it was ZZ Top's Tres Hombres. I played thru the entire album with my 'burst DGT, and sure, it definitely sounded great, but somehow it was still just a bit too, um, 'toppy' and twangy for me at that moment. Out of curiosity, as well as for fun and practice, I then replayed along to the entire album again but with the Standard and... ahh. Perfect (the tones, not the playing, lol!). IMO, the Standard simply has a slightly earthier, meatier sound to it—at least mine does. Even DG hisself has mentioned the model's differences back when they Standard was released, saying how (IIRC) "it just fits into a mix differently". I would have to agree.
Hopefully, my experiences will tell you something. And yes, I still own and love and play them both. Viva la DGT.