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
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).

I'm not sure what the disconnect is. The BP is utterly life changing for a digital front end. For the last 20 years most dacs have relatively similar shortcomings and sonic signatures due the fact of using basically the same ICs for digital filtering and OS. Then came delta sigma, with everyone falling into the crack pipe like oversampling hamster wheel. (It sounds better so I over-sample, so it sounds better, so I over-sample more, so it...)  It didn't matter if the unit was $500 or $5000 they all sounded... digital.

Compared to any other DAC under $5k the Border Patrol is the first to provide actual textured nuanced bass instead of the relentless granulated single note thumping sound that has me running to the laundry room thinking someone put the cat in the dryer.

 

I improved my Border Patrol SE by installing a Valvo EZ80 tube.  The BP tube has a significant effect its treble.  I would suggest tube tube rolling.