New Boulder 866 Integrated Amp ?

[carszen]

I went to my local dealer last week to audition a streamer/dac from Moon Audio, but ended up listening to a whole Moon system with SF Liliums. Wouldn't be surprised if the kit cost six figures, but I was not really impressed. So the staff steered me to a Boulder 866 which they hooked up to my speakers: Serafinos. The combination was sublime: natural, musical, transparent, excellent pace and timing, effortless. Just outstanding. And no fancy add-ons, just streaming Tidal using Roon in a well-treated room.

I have always been aware of Boulder, but never gave much consideration since they are generally out of my comfort level in terms of price. And the 866 is no exception at $15k, but could be considered a bargain given the level of performance and that it replaces preamp, amps, dac, streamer and all that messy, expensive cabling. Plus tidy, modern, and fits anywhere.

I have been considering updating and simplifying my system which includes Mc 501 mono blocks and the 866 makes a compelling argument, even if it isn't quite a complete one-box solution. But the sound! Just have to come to terms with trading in the 501's, and of course the cost.

I can definitely see how someone could buy two of these. And it does run a little warm, especially compared to the 501, but nothing excessive. I presume it is a Class AB amp biased towards A which is why it sounds so great and runs warm. One of those auditions we have all experienced that is hard to get out of your head.

[ghasley]

Its great to go and demo gear and for it to exceed your expectations, like the 866 evidently did. Its unfortunate the Moon setup didn't...I'll use the old audiophile sayings in reference to the Moon setup: "maybe it wasn't broken in", "what kind of cables", "what about the room", "maybe the system matching"....

The 866 is simply an amazing accomplishment by Boulder. The more people that experience it, the more $15,000 sound considerably underpriced. Warm regards.

[chadisrc]

Originally Posted by ghasley

Yes I have. It doesnt give up much, if anything. I have in another system an Aqua La Scala fed by i2s from an Aqua Linq as well as fed by USB via my Innuos Zenith and it is slightly different but not discernably so.

Every time I use my 866 fed music over ethernet using its internal dac I think of how much money I might have saved over the years on cables and attempts at system matching. The digital version of the 866 may be all any music lover would ever need provided they can be happy not tweaking cables, tubes, power cables, etc, (wondering what two different versions of the same tube might bring to the table).

I have purchased two identical 866's. The 866 is the real deal. Its not fussy, it just gets it right. Its the equivalent to finding out on your blind date with a supermodel that she is intelligent, is grounded, has great values and actually likes you for the same reasons. A silly analogy I know but its one of those audio purchases that seems like a no-brainer after you've lived with it for a while.

Hi Ghasley, I was just curious. Why did you end up purchasing two of them, for two different set ups? I have to say that is quite the endorsement. You certainly make a good argument to when you consider separates, and the extra costs of cables etc. Did you compare the 866 against some of the boulder separates, like in the 1100 series? If so, did the 866 get most of what they have to offer?

[ghasley]

I have multiple setups(i presently have 6 amps, I’m ashamed). I enjoy various tube types and have kindof a low powered tube system room along with other setups because I enjoy gear almost as much as music. I did not listen to the Boulder separates. I had purchased the first 866 for a tv room system. Good for music, good for tv (Im not a surround sound fan), easy to use and versatile. I knew it was good but I didnt know until I got it home and let it break in that I realized how good. Weve all had setups where our significant other walks by and never listens to music. My wife can now listen in high quality to anything on the Boulder with just her ipad. We have a 2 level home that is kind of spread out, it seemed halfway logical at the time to duplicate the original Boulder setup in another space. I have learned we tend to relax and listen in the original space more but hey, its like a belt and suspenders.

I like all of my amps, I replaced Audio Research Ref pre and amp with the 866. I dont know what Boulder did with the 866 because I had listened briefly to Boulder years ago. The isnt an evolution of the 865, the 866 is a departure from the 865 to my ears. Maybe it is heavily biased to class a, I dont know. I can tell you that it sounds great on Wilson Sashas and Im listening this morning to the 866 connected to Devore o96’s and the sound is sublime. It should not be this good and if I had to be extra picky, the o96’s bass with the 866 is a little too controlled. That woofer has probably never started and stopped with such precision! LOL. It is resting next to a 8wpc 300b amp and the Boulder has this purity of tone and manages to retain the texture we all look for.

There isn’t a $7,000 amp, $6,000 preamp, $5,000 dac, $2,000 streamer and $2,000 of interconnects I would trade for the 866. Go listen, different people may hear differently but the 866 is seriously good and seriously underpriced.

[carszen]

Originally Posted by ghasley

Its great to go and demo gear and for it to exceed your expectations, like the 866 evidently did. Its unfortunate the Moon setup didn't...I'll use the old audiophile sayings in reference to the Moon setup: "maybe it wasn't broken in", "what kind of cables", "what about the room", "maybe the system matching"....

The 866 is simply an amazing accomplishment by Boulder. The more people that experience it, the more $15,000 sound considerably underpriced. Warm regards.

Certainly not throwing shade on Moon; I really admire the brand and would like to own it someday. Just need to find the right system combo to satisfy my sonic preference.

The 866 was a total unknown to me until I walked into the store. I was glad to come home to find this thread and other information on it which helped confirm my impressions. I need to go back and do a little more research, but I will ask here as well since Boulder seems to rely on it's product to sell itself rather than detailed marketing documents. It appears that the only way this unit works as a streamer is if you use the Roon endpoint provision. Otherwise the unit is strictly an integrated with a built-in dac. Correct? Which would be fine except if it makes the display just a fancy input selector. If one were to plug a freestanding streamer into the dac, will the screen display any song information or album art? As with any digital product, I am always cautious about limited shelf life of the technology, especially if the product is reliant on third party providers such as Roon, Tidal, etc. that can flame out unexpectedly. But you would still end up with a fantastic integrated.

[Higgens]

Good post!

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by carszen

It appears that the only way this unit works as a streamer is if you use the Roon endpoint provision. Otherwise the unit is strictly an integrated with a built-in dac. Correct?

No, the 866 can also work with UPnP, so you can use any UPnP server and control app, such as Mconnect, Synology server and control app, Minimserver, etc. to stream to the 866. It’s not dependent on Roon.

[chadisrc]

Originally Posted by ghasley

I have multiple setups(i presently have 6 amps, I’m ashamed). I enjoy various tube types and have kindof a low powered tube system room along with other setups because I enjoy gear almost as much as music. I did not listen to the Boulder separates. I had purchased the first 866 for a tv room system. Good for music, good for tv (Im not a surround sound fan), easy to use and versatile. I knew it was good but I didnt know until I got it home and let it break in that I realized how good. Weve all had setups where our significant other walks by and never listens to music. My wife can now listen in high quality to anything on the Boulder with just her ipad. We have a 2 level home that is kind of spread out, it seemed halfway logical at the time to duplicate the original Boulder setup in another space. I have learned we tend to relax and listen in the original space more but hey, its like a belt and suspenders.

I like all of my amps, I replaced Audio Research Ref pre and amp with the 866. I dont know what Boulder did with the 866 because I had listened briefly to Boulder years ago. The isnt an evolution of the 865, the 866 is a departure from the 865 to my ears. Maybe it is heavily biased to class a, I dont know. I can tell you that it sounds great on Wilson Sashas and Im listening this morning to the 866 connected to Devore o96’s and the sound is sublime. It should not be this good and if I had to be extra picky, the o96’s bass with the 866 is a little too controlled. That woofer has probably never started and stopped with such precision! LOL. It is resting next to a 8wpc 300b amp and the Boulder has this purity of tone and manages to retain the texture we all look for.

There isn’t a $7,000 amp, $6,000 preamp, $5,000 dac, $2,000 streamer and $2,000 of interconnects I would trade for the 866. Go listen, different people may hear differently but the 866 is seriously good and seriously underpriced.

I would not be ashamed to own 6 amps, I think its great. This hobby is so much fun. That is really good way of putting it, combing the cost of the amp/preamp/streamer etc. it is a bargain even at that price. Great way of using the 866 for your media centre as well, I am also not a fan of surround sound, and just use a 2.1 set up. It sounds like the 866 is super user friendly (wife using the iPad), and honestly for tv room system, that is exactly what you want, simple and sounds great. Thanks for the detailed response, and happy listening.

[revtil]

I'm a little late to this thread, but Ghasley, I'm wondering if you could share some thoughts on how the 866 compared to the Nagra Classic Int? I currently have a complete classic setup (pre/monos) and needing to downsize... I know this isn't a fair comparison by any means... but how much would I be giving up with the Boulder?

Thanks!

[audiofound]

Deleted. Will redo.