Thetiminator
Painfully virile
I've had my beloved Boulder Pre, DAC & Phonostage for around 15 years. It was c.£15k in 2007, which was quite a lot of money back then.
Periodically I have tried some other Dacs to see if I could better it. Recently I've tried some dCS stuff which was posted on another thread, so I thought I'd put all my findings in one place...in case anyone is interested.
System remains the same from 1-6, then 7-12 I had changed my music server to an Antipodes K50 (Antipodes, Boulder 1012, Boulder 860 + 1160 power amps, Living Voice Air Partner speakers with Olympian crossovers, Dual B&W DB1D subs, cables are Jorma Primes.
Of course this is all in my system, room, ears and musical tastes etc…
I'll score the Boulder at 100% for reference:
1. AR Reference Dac - 35%
Grainy, bloated, blurry soundstage. My dad nailed it when he described it is mid-fi compared to the Boulder.
2. Resonnessence Mira - 50%
Solid, natural and detailed. But not lifelike compared to the Boulder.
3. Bricasti M1 - 80%
Very good. Great bass, very stable soundstage, natural sounding, a nice sweetness to the treble. Putting the Boulder back in - the music washed over me with a much more powerful and natural sound.
4. MSB Platinum DAC with Diamond Power Base - 90%
From the mids up it was a smidge better than the Boulder - very natural voices and sweeter in the top end. More hi-fi sounding than the Boulder. From the mids down it couldn't compete with the Boulder. The Boulder was also more analogue sounding and had much better imaging. An impressive DAC though.
5. Antelope Platinum - 50%
Not a bad sounding Dac, just didn't do anything particularly well. But...
Adding the Antelope Atomic Clock - 90%
A huge improvement and an excellent sounding Dac. Up there with the MSB for a LOT less money.
6. TotalDac - 105%
This was a very good Dac and the best I'd heard yet. A very natural and well balanced sound, combined the best of all the Dacs so far. A very natural sounding Dac, marginally better than the Boulder, but it was low on features (e.g. no balance controls), so I stayed with with the Boulder. Although the TotalDac was (surprisingly) very well built, TotalDac was a relatively small company, and ongoing support was in the back of my head.
A few years later......
The Boulder developed a fault in one of it's two Dac chips so had to go off for replacements to be fitted. It was due to be away for around 8 weeks, so thought this was the time to try a couple of other options:
7. Toping D90Se - 30%
I bought one to see what the fuss was about (and wouldn't lose much on it upon resale), thought well if it was as good as claimed I could sell the Boulder and put some money in my pocket. Err no, just rubbish. Flat sounding, not realistic sounding, literally sucked the life out of the music. Left my hi-fi off while this was in the house.
8. RME Dac - 35%
A loaner from a friend. Better than than the D90. Mainly as it had a more transparent sound, but it overdid it and sounded bright and brash.
9. Bricasti M3 - 65%
Not a bad sounding Dac, sounded like a much cheaper version of the M1. A bit rough round the edges and not life-like compared to the Boulder. But a solid enough Dac, good for the used price.
10. dCS Bartok (non Apex) - 85%
A different sound entirely to everything before. Much bigger sounding with a much more powerful bass. Ok detail wise, but in the end fell way behind the Boulder in clarity, dynamics and bass tunefulness. It did seduce me with it's big warm sound, but not for me in the end.
11. dCS Bartok Apex - 100%
Strangely the Apex version sounded completely different to the standard Bartok. Way more clarity, detail and extension up top. Bass much more taught. It sounded as close as makes no difference, EXACTLY the same as the Boulder. Switching between them you could hear a slightly bigger bass from the Apex, the mids a touch weightier, but the Boulder hit back with more slam and a more tuneful sound, with better imaging. Not worth the money to change.
12. dCS Vivaldi - 105%
With SR Purple fuse - 115%
With SR Master fuse - 150%
Natch it was good. Again it sounded very different to the Boulder, more like a supercharged (non Apex) Bartok. Initially I didn't like it, it sounded over blown and thick. Then I realised that as it was much bigger and rounded in the bass, it didn't need the subs on. Turned the subs off and God it was good. Very natural sounding, sounds like a top flight turntable...but better. It was a sound I had to get used to though (perhaps due to the Dac architecture), but the longer I used it, the more I liked it.
Putting the Boulder back in it was much more lithe sounding, way better clarity and attack, better side to side sound staging but worse front to back, but the Boulder sounded thinner too. In the end, it came down to the music I listen too, a lot of 60's and 80's pop which can sound bright, so the Vivaldi was better for me. I imagine if I listened to Classical or Jazz, the Boulder would have beaten the Vivaldi quite easily.
After a week or so, I added a SR Purple fuse which helped a good bit with the heavy bass on the dCS, then after a few more days I tried the SR Master, BINGO that's it now...closed the gap to the Boulder in the areas where the Boulder was better.
So I bought the dCS Vivaldi, it really is a great sounding Dac and finally, beat off the Boulder.
Periodically I have tried some other Dacs to see if I could better it. Recently I've tried some dCS stuff which was posted on another thread, so I thought I'd put all my findings in one place...in case anyone is interested.
System remains the same from 1-6, then 7-12 I had changed my music server to an Antipodes K50 (Antipodes, Boulder 1012, Boulder 860 + 1160 power amps, Living Voice Air Partner speakers with Olympian crossovers, Dual B&W DB1D subs, cables are Jorma Primes.
Of course this is all in my system, room, ears and musical tastes etc…
I'll score the Boulder at 100% for reference:
1. AR Reference Dac - 35%
Grainy, bloated, blurry soundstage. My dad nailed it when he described it is mid-fi compared to the Boulder.
2. Resonnessence Mira - 50%
Solid, natural and detailed. But not lifelike compared to the Boulder.
3. Bricasti M1 - 80%
Very good. Great bass, very stable soundstage, natural sounding, a nice sweetness to the treble. Putting the Boulder back in - the music washed over me with a much more powerful and natural sound.
4. MSB Platinum DAC with Diamond Power Base - 90%
From the mids up it was a smidge better than the Boulder - very natural voices and sweeter in the top end. More hi-fi sounding than the Boulder. From the mids down it couldn't compete with the Boulder. The Boulder was also more analogue sounding and had much better imaging. An impressive DAC though.
5. Antelope Platinum - 50%
Not a bad sounding Dac, just didn't do anything particularly well. But...
Adding the Antelope Atomic Clock - 90%
A huge improvement and an excellent sounding Dac. Up there with the MSB for a LOT less money.
6. TotalDac - 105%
This was a very good Dac and the best I'd heard yet. A very natural and well balanced sound, combined the best of all the Dacs so far. A very natural sounding Dac, marginally better than the Boulder, but it was low on features (e.g. no balance controls), so I stayed with with the Boulder. Although the TotalDac was (surprisingly) very well built, TotalDac was a relatively small company, and ongoing support was in the back of my head.
A few years later......
The Boulder developed a fault in one of it's two Dac chips so had to go off for replacements to be fitted. It was due to be away for around 8 weeks, so thought this was the time to try a couple of other options:
7. Toping D90Se - 30%
I bought one to see what the fuss was about (and wouldn't lose much on it upon resale), thought well if it was as good as claimed I could sell the Boulder and put some money in my pocket. Err no, just rubbish. Flat sounding, not realistic sounding, literally sucked the life out of the music. Left my hi-fi off while this was in the house.
8. RME Dac - 35%
A loaner from a friend. Better than than the D90. Mainly as it had a more transparent sound, but it overdid it and sounded bright and brash.
9. Bricasti M3 - 65%
Not a bad sounding Dac, sounded like a much cheaper version of the M1. A bit rough round the edges and not life-like compared to the Boulder. But a solid enough Dac, good for the used price.
10. dCS Bartok (non Apex) - 85%
A different sound entirely to everything before. Much bigger sounding with a much more powerful bass. Ok detail wise, but in the end fell way behind the Boulder in clarity, dynamics and bass tunefulness. It did seduce me with it's big warm sound, but not for me in the end.
11. dCS Bartok Apex - 100%
Strangely the Apex version sounded completely different to the standard Bartok. Way more clarity, detail and extension up top. Bass much more taught. It sounded as close as makes no difference, EXACTLY the same as the Boulder. Switching between them you could hear a slightly bigger bass from the Apex, the mids a touch weightier, but the Boulder hit back with more slam and a more tuneful sound, with better imaging. Not worth the money to change.
12. dCS Vivaldi - 105%
With SR Purple fuse - 115%
With SR Master fuse - 150%
Natch it was good. Again it sounded very different to the Boulder, more like a supercharged (non Apex) Bartok. Initially I didn't like it, it sounded over blown and thick. Then I realised that as it was much bigger and rounded in the bass, it didn't need the subs on. Turned the subs off and God it was good. Very natural sounding, sounds like a top flight turntable...but better. It was a sound I had to get used to though (perhaps due to the Dac architecture), but the longer I used it, the more I liked it.
Putting the Boulder back in it was much more lithe sounding, way better clarity and attack, better side to side sound staging but worse front to back, but the Boulder sounded thinner too. In the end, it came down to the music I listen too, a lot of 60's and 80's pop which can sound bright, so the Vivaldi was better for me. I imagine if I listened to Classical or Jazz, the Boulder would have beaten the Vivaldi quite easily.
After a week or so, I added a SR Purple fuse which helped a good bit with the heavy bass on the dCS, then after a few more days I tried the SR Master, BINGO that's it now...closed the gap to the Boulder in the areas where the Boulder was better.
So I bought the dCS Vivaldi, it really is a great sounding Dac and finally, beat off the Boulder.
