Should i go Boulder 1060 or Jeff Rowland 625

Melbguy1, while M625 is certainly toasty to the touch, it is unable to achieve an unpleasant temperature ... hence the photo of the egg frying on the device may have been, uhrn ... "posted out of context" ... I would consider M625 much more applicable as a buffet-warmer than a frying skillet (grins!).

Guido, perhaps one of Rowland's competitor's? though I think that's likely one part urban myth, one part photo shop :D

+1 Vote for Rowland 625. Both do a great job, but to me 625 was a warmer, more holographic sound which I prefer. Boulder does feel the wider soundstage but touch less detail, felt a little thinner.

Tested both on Avalon, Wilson, MBL.

per my memory (was few months ago), boulder gear generally does not truly strut its stuff until the 20xx line, which was threw a phenomenal soundstage/imaging and detail with sashas. but i think theres a significant price gap.

Insomniac, I agree with your observation that the JRDG is warmer, but i'm suspicious about your pre-amp choice with the Boulder, and warm up time. Firstly, the Boulder requires 24hrs warm up (and to be left on 24/7) to sound it's best. 2hrs warm up is not enough, and time and again has resulted in average reviews of the 1060. The Boulder is also twice the price of the JRDG in Australia.No, money doesn't always buy a better amp, but no one would argue with Boulder's engineering. Also, the Boulder is dead neutral. Imho, it needs a reference tube preamp which is a good impedance match to bring out it's potential; the 1060 is *very* revealing of upstream gear, for better or worse. Check out the above link to the Vac review if you get a chance.

melbguy, think you may be correct.

Heard them with the their respective preamps (JRDG criterion and Boulder '1010' I believe it was?)

and 'neutral' is the adjective I was grasping for but failed to bring to the keyboard. The boulder was definitely more neutral.

on another note, Boulder's gear is built like a tank. Everything about their gear shouts flagship engineering. or battleship, even. JRDG's got the pretty boy 'Macbook-esque' eye candy thing going with a shiny one piece machined aluminum chassis. aesthetics should take back seat to sound of course, but you may have a domestic CFO who takes such things into consideration