DAC contest: Border Patrol Sei or Chord Qutest?

@cagma7 ,

 Variety is the spice of life!

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.  

I tried a Border Patrol DAC after seeing the Steve Guthenberg Audiofiliac video on it, but when I tried it I thought it was very smoothed over and kind of lifeless in its sound. I was using an Ayre Codex at the time, and since then I went to a Chord Twoqute then to their Qutest and definitely the Chords are much more detailed and energetic and realistic.

Some people do like the Boerder Patrol unit it seems but maybe they haven't compared it to other ones that can give a clearer view onto the musical performance.