Amplifier of the Year over $20,000
Boulder’s 866 is more powerful than the amplifier it replaces, while it’s also electronically and sonically superior — and much better-looking… so we expected Boulder to be charging rather more for it. But it is actually less than its predecessor, thanks to several years of analysis during which Boulder minimised the operations necessary to cut and finish the metalwork, refining any detail that could reduce costs without reducing performance — down to even the colour of the circuit board masking. Boulder can do this because it builds everything entirely in-house — not just assembly, but every circuit board and each piece of metalwork is put together in Colorado. Indeed the company claims to be last manufacturer in the USA to be doing so.
And of course this makes the Boulder 866 entirely unique — the sloping front panel, the almost wacky asymmetric heatsinking on the sides. It also explains why Boulder does not update models very often — the preceding 865 amplifier came out way back in 2007.
Despite the savings the Boulder 866 is nevertheless a not insignificant $20,500 for the analogue-only model, with the price rising to $25,500 if you add the digital options. And we’d suggest you should — it adds optical and AES/EBU digital inputs, USB inputs, and an Ethernet connection to the three balanced analogue inputs of the base model — note there are no unbalanced inputs, so standard components will need unbalanced-tobalanced conversion cables; Boulder’s manual suggests the best wiring method. The DAC/ Streamer card also makes the Boulder 866 a certified Roon endpoint, so you can use that huge full-colour front panel’s display for media browsing, displaying artwork, text and all the other information for which Roon (subscription required) is justifiably famous.
While this is all useful user-friendliness, it is the sound quality of the Boulder 866 which assured it our award. It’s extraordinary, indeed so exceptional that you won’t have to spend hours in lengthy listening sessions to establish its quality: you know in the first few instants that you’re listening to a remarkable amplifier. For starters, the 866’s control over bass is exceptional. If you thought your speakers delivered tight, taut and rhythmic bass, you won’t really have heard them until you’ve connected them to Boulder’s 866. The tonal quality, the depth of the bass, the perfect pacing of bass lines, the dynamism revealed by the sound from a close-miked drum kit… the Boulder 866 has it all in spades. No, it’s better than just spades, it’s a full lay-down misère. When we set the volume to ‘stun’, we heard no clipping, no any type of distortion at all… you can believe Boulder’s claim for 200W per channel into 8 ohms, double that into 4 ohms. Playing a choral work, the detailing of voices among the full-bore choral onslaught was astonishing, with none of the blurring you may hear from other amplifiers. The soundstaging was such that you can pinpoint soloists instantly and precisely.
A unique amplifier, with a spectacularly powerful and musical performance, the Boulder 866 is our top integrated amplifier of the year. More info: www.absolutehiend.com