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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
cagma7
26 posts
 

BP Se-i here.

A few comments : 

1) 100 to 150 hours (break-in) is a must (it is horrible out the box)

2) A good power cable is very important (mostly to address the bass issue)

3) Ditto for a good usb cable

 

The BP doesn’t sound impressive at first glance like other dacs, it simply sounds right / natural and I realized that ‘sounding right’ is probably more important than the last bit of resolution (at least for me). If you want to listen to your system, it is probably not the best Dac but if you want to listen music…

ball-wheel
70 posts
 

I rolled in a Bugle Boy Holland ez80 rectifier tube. This definitely woke up my BP dac. I read that different rectifier tubes won't make much difference in sound quality. That is a false statement. 

mmhifi
36 posts
 

My Border dac was new, 3 weeks only in system. 

Outperformed my another 6000$ dac from the first 

moment. More so after break in... Amazing dac.

Try Furutech Flux-50 filter on dac power input.

Not cheap but this thingy improved everything

connected considerably.

 

 

ball-wheel
70 posts
 

For the power cord I'm using my trusted Cabledyne 10 gauge pure silver cord. It's plugged into a Audioquest Niagara 5000. 

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