DAC contest: Border Patrol Sei or Chord Qutest?

@swvaaudiofan " a member who insisted that I had to ditch the Border Patrol before doing anything else in my system."

+1 soix - pay attention to what is being asked here by soix. I’ll add-in a few thoughts.

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Has this insistent member heard your system in your room with your speakers... How anyone could be insistent without hearing your setup is a novice shooting in the dark.

What about your BP SE-I dac is not sounding right to you, and what do you hope to change about the sound more to your liking by purchasing another dac?

imo, try to figure out this part out before getting on/off the dac treadmill, if you can help it. I agree with others, the Chord or Denefrips vs. the BP SE-I dac will sound different. Part of this has to do with the result and type of presentation you are looking for, and/or dealing with taming your Be tweeted speakers.

Oh: the first 24-48hrs of burn-in with the BP SE-I can be terrible (veiled over) sounding as the caps form and other components settle in. Can share notes from Gary on all of this. I now believe some people resale this dac not knowing this part. Patience :)

btw, recently acquired the BP SE-I with the updated Beez Wax caps and new choke design, and like it quite a bit with my all-tube system and speakers, all of which is revealing and transparent. Also owned/compared to other dacs that I enjoy for other reasons. The BP truly does something different, like it or not. Deciding really depends on your system and your preference at the end of the day, fwiw.

@soix "Still no info on what improvements or sound characteristics are being sought so I got nuthin’. Peace out. ".

Yep, agree. When basic questions don’t get answered and responses include other solutions instead, agree - time to bail out.

@jjss49 imo, your dac advice was spot on if uber-detail and added transparency was a goal of the OP. Those are not characteristics my own Border Patrol SE-I dac is known for. Something I was completely aware of before purchasing mine.

To your point, my own BP SE-I dac sounds smoothed over, slightly less detailed, less spatial/open, and more focused on weighty midrange, body, gentle detail, with a moderately sized sound stage -vs-. my other Schiit Bifrost 2/64 R2R dac, for example. I enjoy both for completely different types of sound and presentations.

@hysteve i.e. "the difference was striking...". "Sometimes wish I could experiment with more DACs and cables because I believe that’s where the most sound variation exists. It’s an expensive hobby!!"

It’s been a surprise to me how various dacs can sound so different from one to the next. Using @jjjsss’s example, how much salt/pepper/spice should someone add to food starts with tasting and describing the taste before adding anything at all.

Until someone like the OP can actually describe what they are hearing or missing (in great detail - with comparison examples) the whole idea of anyone asking which daca vs. dacb is better, or what to buy, is kinda pointless and difficult to answer to.  

@lordrootman "...we can simply takes their words for it". 

While this might occur for those less familiar, most of the more practiced folks here will ask a few mindful questions to try and help steer someone in a proper direction. A selected DAC is not going to always sound the same in different people's rooms, systems, applications. There are other factors to consider, hence the more detailed follow-up questions by some folks here just trying to help. That's all.    

@lordrootman "...why do I have to listen to a guy he seems to have knowledge on everything post on here ?"

You don't have to. And we all appreciate hands on experience, no argument there. There are responses that agitate each of us at times, no big deal - over time we kinda learn to ignore what we don't find helpful. Take away whatever we can, shrug off the rest imo. Happy listening.  👍     

@badgerdms "For background, my other stand-alone DAC (in another system) is a Merason DAC1 and I auditioned DACS by Ideon, Matrox, Weiss & Bricasti before going ith the Merason."

Nice. Some worthy dac comparison references there. A few colleagues of mine have those Merason dacs. Thanks for the added comments explaining how you heard enjoyable differences with more revealing speakers. This part is so key.

@badgerdms ...But if you actually just let each unit go for about of week of listening and see which one actually lets you enjoy the music more, it’s the Border Patrol. ...

The recently new BP SE-I dac model I have with the Jupiter Beeswax caps sure seems to take its sweet time to settle in. Not quite at the recommended full week of hours yet, and it’s a mind game so far. Has transformed at least 2-3 times now, and more change last night during a long listening session.

Had I not gone through this with other caps, I could see how folks get impatient and resell too fast. This explains a lot, there is a prize at the other end, as I gather it now. Curious to know what others have experienced, and did they not give it enough time? I suspect this may be the case now for some, not letting the whole dac settle in.

First 24-48 hours of use was rolled off on the high freq, rich and thick. Now with more time on it, has started to open up with added texture, really interesting and engaging midrange, particularly with tracks I normally would not listen to, yet I can with this dac. Gary at BP instructed it would be at least a solid 75hrs burn-in to start, and another 2-5% gain later with more time. I can begin to understand what he’s talking about now. It’s sound is transforming exactly as he said it would, nice.

re: BorderPatrol SE-I DAC / Input tubes on your tube preamplifier?

For those running tube preamplifiers and the BP SE-I DAC, I had still been running softer sounding input tubes in my preamplifier as a carry-over from running other types of transparent dacs prior to my BorderPatrol DAC SE-I acquisition.

Change:

Today, swapped in a few of my other more transparent sounding 6SN7 preamplifier input tubes just for grins. Things opened up nicely, more soundstage and layering is present. Plenty of detail, separation, and sound stage with the BP SE-I dac. It’s worth trying different tubes and cables with this dac to fine tune more. Glad I tried it, passing it along fwiw.