Boulder 866 experience? Users?

My Boulder 866 with the digital option was just delivered over the weekend.  My plan is to use it with Maggie 20.7s and a REL S/812 sub using Qobuz and a Synology NAS hard drive for locally ripped tracks.  I was a bit concerned if the 866 had ample power for the Maggie's as they can be challenging speakers to drive correctly. 

Right out of the box with no burn-in time my concerns about power were gone as it has ample power for the Maggies and drives the mid-bass panel of the Maggies as well as any amp I've tried. There's no exaggeration of any frequencies that you sometimes experience with other amps. It sounds correct and is a pleasure to listen to.  I've been picking up new musical artifacts in songs I've listened to hundreds of times which is a testament to it's DAC/Streamer and networking section.  Why anyone would purchase an 866 without the digital inputs / networking option is a mystery to me.   

I've read that some people think the 866 is an expensive all-in-1. I think it's actually a bargain as you don't have to purchase a separate DAC/Streamer, pre-amp and amp.  Not to mention all the power and interconnect cables and shelf space.  I used to own a Devialet and there's no comparison in sound quality, especially as you increase the volume.  The Devialet seemed strained to me as the volume increased.  The 866 delivers the same sound quality, just more of it.  

Boulder hit a grand slam with the 866.

As a Passaholic, I just notice that Boulder 866 are coming up fairly frequently in the used market. The Pass Int-250 almost never. No idea of units sold, etc., just an observation.

I compared the Boulder 866 against a Pass Int250. The 866 was perhaps more neutral but sounded a bit restrained compared to the int250 which sounded more powerful and fleshed out.

I'm looking at a used Boulder 866, and I'll be the fourth owner if I get it.  I am kind go surprised at this much turnover, but at this price level, people are often experimenting and upgrading,   It would be interesting to know what percentage of people hold on to them long term vs selling them. 

 Any other updates from people who have held on to theirs?

I know this thread now borders on ancient, but I can share my experience in migrating from a Devialet 220 to the Boulder 866. As much as I loved the 220 for the seven years I have had it, the Boulder stays and the 220 will go to a new home. The seven-year itch that has been my audio system pattern since the ’80’s has been scratched.

It was not a no-brainer. The feature I miss most on the Devialet is the SAM (Speaker Active Matching) which allowed my MBL 120’s perform bass-wise comparably to my previous set-up that included REL T9i’s. Part of the deal in getting family approval for the 120’s was the removal of a bunch of boxes and cables. So out they went, but with SAM on the 120’s I was able to replicate the frequency response I had previously. And, no, it was not simply a matter of bass boost.

On firing up the 866 for the first time I thought I would do the audio-purist thing and test the turntable. Ooops. Plenty of treble and no bass. Having compared the Devialet’s built-in phono stage with the Schiit Skoll which was about to replace it due to the need for a balanced phono input in the 866, I found the Schiit to be superior in detail but less forgiving in any inadequacies in the incoming signal. Pops and clicks that had been digitally corrected within the Devialet to smoothness were on full display. But now attached to the Bouler 866 the problem was different: the same pops and clicks and much less bass. Yuck.

I rummaged around some settings to get the 866 connected to Roon via ethernet. Now it was clear that the Boulder stood heads and shoulders above the Devialet in my system. But the ultimate lack of bass extension was still there and really annoying. Decided to finally utilize the built-in parametric equalizer in Roon for the first time ever, and that solved most of the issue. I am moving to Wireworld Platinum speaker cables bought sued this week to hopefully open things up more as well.

Bottom line: I loved the Devialet. We called it the Chrome Pizza Box and it was much more than just a lifestyle product. Moving to the MBL 120’s made me want to more. The Boulder is indeed more--more power, detail, transparency. And my wife loves it, thank goodness. But I am not allowed to have any subwoofers return so let’s hope that cabling contributes to the solution for bass extension.