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.

swvaaudiofan

That Denafrips caught my eye a while ago. If the DAC was on the table I would likely agree and get one...

OP.  Ok, fair enough. A comparison between the Border Patrol and I assume the Chord Cutest, wouldn't prove much because those two dacs are so different sounding from one another it would be hard to make a fair comparison. Notice I said different sounding, not better or worse.

Found the Border Patrol for $900, so it seemed like a good addition. A concern was the Beryllium tweeters paired with a highly detailed, extremely precise DAC. The BP is not nearly as 'precise' as some.

Again I will mention that this thread came about when the earlier one was taken over by a DAC conversation. I initially asked about CD transports that I should consider that might be a bit better than NuPrime's CDT-9.

As mentioned above, these are two very different-sounding DACs with very different designs.  It would be most helpful if you could share what improvements you’re looking for, what sound characteristics are most important to you, and what other equipment is in your system.  You’ll get much better and more useful recommendations sharing this critical info, and as it stands I’ve no way to make a meaningful recommendation despite wanting to try to help if possible.