Borderpatrol Dac SE


I've been seeing this DAC mentioned a lot everywhere lately, hearing that it performs way above its price class, etc.

I took the leap and bought one.  Mind you I've only broken it in for 48 hours but I'm at this point I'm not sure it will ever open up.

So far it has really soft and closed in treble with no air or decay.  Mids are okay, bass is a little soft without great definition or extension.  Imaging is ok but feels a little confused.

To be honest it's getting smoked by my current Fostex HP-A8.  The Fostex is the design antithesis of what's gaining traction:  a delta sigma AKM chip.

Owners:  does this thing ever open up, or has the Sopra unmasked another pretender?  If this is "analog" sound, I think I'll pass the next time I hear that descriptor.

System:  

roon
Sotm Sms-200
Perla Audio Sig 50
Focal Sopra 2
emcdade
The T+A DAC 8 DSD I have now makes the BP sound just like it measures:  broken.  Especially when you let Roon convert everything to DSD to feed it.
I have had it in my system as well, it's not worthy of all the praise. It was very slow, unfocused and colored in the sound. I think people who like it are in it for the overly warm colored sound.
Owned one for around a year. It never really opened up. Lacked air and dimension. It was a pleasant sounding DAC, but nothing really special in my opinion.
I felt it never really lived up to the raves it got in audiophile press (although there were some naysayers).