Make way for the future....

@Mapman - I've owned 2 all-in-one systems for a second home.  A NAD M10 that I recently replaced with a Boulder 866.   

The NAD M10 is truly a lifestyle product as it can play just about any digital source known to man including streaming music via Bluetooth from your mobile device. The SQ via Bluetooth seems compromised compared to streaming via a Qobuz Studio Quality subscription. It also comes with Dirac Live and a microphone to perform some basic room and bass correction.  The BluOs mobile device app is intuitive and provides all the functions needed. Overall, the NAD M10 sounds OK but it isn't close to the SQ of high-quality separate components.

As to the Boulder 866, Boulder has checked all the boxes for anyone looking for a single box solution that sounds comparable to a high-end amp, pre-amp and streamer.  Not sure how Boulder has pulled this off but the amp section of the 866 seems to have more meat on the bones compared to some of their legacy iconic stereo amps.  As you increase the volume of the 866, there's no straining of any frequency range, just higher levels of the same SQ.  The Class D amp section of the NAD M10 can't make this claim. 

The 866 is in a different price range than most other all-in-1 systems.  But for anyone looking to simplify their system while retaining high-end SQ, you'd likely have to spend twice as much in separate components and all the power and interconnect cables to match the SQ of the 866.

The 866 from Boulder is outstanding. I had a M10 sold it after a few months was way to glitchy for me. Then bought the Moon ACE and my Mother really liked it and off it went to her house... thought about getting another one but decided on getting the Quicksilver Integrated and a streamer for the office, glad I did. 

Lyngdorf TDI 1120... another excellent “all in one option” with room perfect correction.. read the reviews .. just add speakers ... 

I’m a Cambridge Edge (their flagship line, compared favorably to Hegel H590 by Hi-Fi News) owner, as well as owning the 851n streamer/dac in another system, and I followed the release announcement of the Evo line closely.

It was fascinating to me in the way that they did it, and what they focused on. In particular, they (CA) actually led in the press release with the aesthetic value of the product, focusing prominently on the removable side panels (wood look or the textured look).

Okay, so what is interesting about that? Well because they spent comparatively LITTLE time discussing the sonic merits of the product. They mainly focused on the look and feel of the product. This is just a very different marketing approach than most companies take.

As to the sonics, they use the NCore class D modules rather than the latest and more expensive Purifi class D modules, fwiw.

It’s targeting a different demographic, with a different focus, and maybe it is the right approach. Time will tell. But the approach was very interesting to me - not in an "I’m interested in purchasing this" way (I'm not in the market for a product like this now), but in an "wow, this is a completely different marketing strategy" way

Was not familiar with that Boulder unit. I bet it is the bomb!

NAD m33 gets similar rave reviews supposedly upping the ante from prior models. I wonder how the two compare? Or the CA evo if anyone has heard one yet. Same league at least?


FWIW I own and concurrently run BEl Canto c5i integrated in my second system and the much beefier ref1000m monoblock amps in my main system. Both are very good, in the same league I would say, but the 60w/ch c5i cannot match the ref1000ms in terms of overall muscle and authority, at least in larger rooms.

Also the c5i is a true digital integrated amp like the NAD I believe whereas I run an Audio Research tube pre-amp with the ref1000m’s. The two do not sound radically different but the tube pre-amp with the Class D amps is a good pairing I would say and many agree. There is a difference, but not night and day, and both sound very good and hard to fault on their own. I am happy listening to either though the c5i and its 60 w/ch does impose some limits in terms of spl in a larger room but nothing that would matter most likely for many.