Troidelover1499 I had a similar experience as the setup used to demo a pair of speakers I bought used border patrol SEi. It was my foray back into hifi a couple of years ago. At the time I hadn’t heard other DACs so I didn’t know any better and bought one. Someone loaned me an Ayre codex and the difference was striking. While a little rough, the codex had much more detail. From there I moved on to the Ayre QB9 Twenty - another move up in SQ. My latest iteration is a DAC built into a SS integrated amp which, with my current cable setup, sounds even better to my old ears. 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!!
DAC contest: Border Patrol Sei or Chord Qutest?
I had a thread about CD transports hijacked by a member who insisted that I had to ditch the Border Patrol before doing anything else in my system. No idea how he landed on the Chord, but he did.
So, here you are... a place to stomp some more on the Border Patrol and praise the Chord... lol.