Simaudio Moon 700i vs Boulder 865 Integrateds

@jo1mtb, I have no experience with the Boulder 866 integrated amp.  My retailer carries the Boulder 866 amp but strongly ‘recommended’ the Ayre AX-5 Twenty amp for its excellent build and sound quality.  I eventually sold my SimAudio 700i V2 integrated amp and purchased the Ayre AX-5 Twenty integrated amp.  

My Ayre AX-5 Twenty amplifier sound is different in that the sound is more natural and less 'exaggerated' than my previous amps. This is very hard to put into words. The sound is there with no artificial extra stuff around it.  It seems my previous SimAudio 700i V2 integrated amp exaggerated the music, and this Ayre amp does not. The music sounds like music with no extra stuff in the way if that makes sense. 

I hope this helps.  Thanks....  

Bingo. The Boulder was dry, a bit white, but very clear and detailed soundstage.  Didn’t make the improvement in bass I was expecting either. 

Boulder is dry. 

I'll try to come back and provide an update in a couple weeks.  It is just being shipped tomorrow.  
I did hear it with Focal Scala v1 about a year ago and was very impressed.  I was A/B 'ing it against my ARC Ref separates - Ref 3 and Ref 75.  It held its own.  That's one reason I'm going to give it a run.  The other reason is I don't have easy to drive Focals any longer.  I have Wilson Sasha, which I think will benefit from the power better. 
Thanks

How do you like your Boulder?

I hope it works out. I have heard the Sim and it is fantastic.

Nevermind.  I went for the Boulder.