Am I deaf?

Really?
Hmm,
My Brooklyn stomped my bdp 103 and then kicked sand in its face to add insult.

Seriously it was not even a contest.
Wonder where the difference is in your rig?
I was using a Nordost Heimdall spdif bnc cable.

@honashagen,On avsforum there is a person who claims that he prefers his Oppo UDP-205 over his Esoteric K-01. Everyone hears differently. That does not mean that person is deaf. Maybe a cable change or break-in is needed in your system. Maybe it does not "suit" your system very well.The person who recently purchased my $1.6k TVC emailed me couple of days back, how it beat the Bespoke TVC ($12k starting price). So your finding does not come a surprise. All that matters is what you prefer.

Why would you spend $2100 USD on equipment that sounds worse than the equipment you already own, use, and prefer in actual operation that does not make sense!

Chord says break in is not needed. Warm up is enough. The reviews on this dac are all spectacular and that's what I was expecting. I have an Audioquest Carbon optical cable coming. Can't imagine it can make a difference. 

Clearthink.

Obviously the OP was not expecting it to sound worse!
Hence his thread to see where he maybe going wrong.