Magico M3 driven by Boulder 2160 OR Luxman m900u (monos) OR Pilium OR Centaur II 500

[alvinjamur]

What would color of sound be if Magico M3 were driven by the amps listed below?
Am specifically looking for general sonic color/tendencies when Magico M3 is matched with

- Boulder 2160
- pair of Luxman m900u
- Constellation Centaur II 500 Stereo
- Pilium Leonidas/Iasonas.

The path of signal : Innuos Zenith M3 -> Rossini DAC+Rossini Clock -> AMPLIFIER -> Magico M3

Thank You....

 

[tsaett]

In case you did not know this channel, here you'll find hours of content for exactly your scenario:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC1RalNTbbkMouvaR0XhKIiA/videos

He has the Rossini, had the M3, Luxman, Boulder and Constellation.
He will also mention which of those is better driven by a dedicated preamp rather than the Rossini.

 

[alvinjamur]

yup. did speak to magico. pre amp is key was what i was advised...

 

[alvinjamur]

This is what I'm getting

- innuos zenith mark 3
- rossini clock
- rossini dac
- vh audio furutech bnc clock cables
- boulder 2110
- boulder 2160
- magico m3
- nordost valhalla2 for interconnects + speaker cable
- nordost qx2, qx4, qbase 8 mark2, qv2 x 2, furutech clear line x 1
- hrs sxrc
- gik acoustics room treatments....

finally done....all should be here in about 3 weeks!

 

[LL21]

Wow! That's quite a delivery! Best wishes and enjoy! Please post when setup!

 

[TDX]

Hi, did you compared your initial list and decided for the boulders? Congratulations

 

[alvinjamur]

My bottom line was my desire to get off the “high end shopping merry go around”. i was not interested in gear that sounded “warm” or “cold” or any other descriptor that one might care to attach. All I wanted was the data to be reproduced accurately. I spoke to people that lived with various gear at home and completely ignored how some gear sounded at a shop - so much of room treatment that it would not be practical if one did not have a dedicated listening space. I heard the same combo as I am getting at a friends’ place and that was my clincher.

After burn in, my goaal is to start hearing things again. Will generally keep in touch with happening in high end audio but am not about to get back on the shop-exchange bandwagon for several years. I did not read any review nor did I listen to what any dealer had to say about why the slew of gear they carried was “the best”. I trust my own ears and hearing on material that I know well.

Putting together various conversations I had with manufacturers I am convinced that there is more to all this than what consumers see and read — there does exists some politicking and manouvering with regard to how manufacturers decide to partner up at shows. I do not mean in that in any negative way at all — it just helps for one to trust their own ears in their own listening space over any reviews or the like....at least, that‘s what I chose to do. The most that you should allow others ro do is to show you the doors — only you should open them and see/hear what is inside....

 

[dan31]

Well done. The Boulder 2100 series is the real deal. If I could swing it I would buy and be done as you are doing. Enjoy!

 

[alvinjamur]

My own background is in DSP/Machine Learning -- I had originally wanted to get a short signal path ie., from dac to amp. However, when I heard the system with and without the Pre-Amp (going direct from Rossini DAC to Amp) it was an eye opener. I chose to go from DAC to pre-amp to amp to speaker....

 

[divertiti]

My bottom line was my desire to get off the “high end shopping merry go around”. i was not interested in gear that sounded “warm” or “cold” or any other descriptor that one might care to attach. All I wanted was the data to be reproduced accurately. I spoke to people that lived with various gear at home and completely ignored how some gear sounded at a shop - so much of room treatment that it would not be practical if one did not have a dedicated listening space. I heard the same combo as I am getting at a friends’ place and that was my clincher.

After burn in, my goaal is to start hearing things again. Will generally keep in touch with happening in high end audio but am not about to get back on the shop-exchange bandwagon for several years. I did not read any review nor did I listen to what any dealer had to say about why the slew of gear they carried was “the best”. I trust my own ears and hearing on material that I know well.

Putting together various conversations I had with manufacturers I am convinced that there is more to all this than what consumers see and read — there does exists some politicking and manouvering with regard to how manufacturers decide to partner up at shows. I do not mean in that in any negative way at all — it just helps for one to trust their own ears in their own listening space over any reviews or the like....at least, that‘s what I chose to do. The most that you should allow others ro do is to show you the doors — only you should open them and see/hear what is inside....

I've just pulled the trigger on a set of 1110 and 1160 for exactly the same reason as you stated. With a set of Boulder you know you are pretty much done, and no matter what source and speakers you use, you know your amplification will not bottleneck it. Congrats on the amazing system, would love to hear your impressions as you break it in, please update us.

 

[alvinjamur]

I've just pulled the trigger on a set of 1110 and 1160 for exactly the same reason as you stated. With a set of Boulder you know you are pretty much done, and no matter what source and speakers you use, you know your amplification will not bottleneck it. Congrats on the amazing system, would love to hear your impressions as you break it in, please update us.

Congrats!!!
What is your full signal chain???

 

[Jeff River]

Hi Alvin! Excuse me, could I ask you a few doubts? I'm also deciding on Boulder or Pilium (mainly because i heard in Europe and more in Asia that Pilium's entry set have displaced someones from the Boulder 2000 series and I was concerned!). Did you hear the Pilium Leonidas with Bob from Rhapsody? What did you not like? Maybe we have the same tastes. Thanks a lot.

 

[divertiti]

Congrats!!!
What is your full signal chain???

Thanks! I stream almost exclusively, using a Macbook pro as Roon core, feeding bridged ethernet into an Auralic G2 streamer, then AES EBU into Rockna Wavelight DAC, then 1110 and 1160, driving a pair of Raidho XT-2 but also have a pair of Spendor D9.2 on the way for a full ranged sound and that mid-range magic from Spendor. Cables are all DIY helix geometry cables using Mundorf silver conductors on interconnects and VH Audio airlok OCC copper on speaker and power. I extensively home A/B'ed with Nordost Vahalla and preferred mine. I welcome any thoughts on the setup and perhaps suggestions on future journey.

 

[alvinjamur]

To answer previous 2 posts :

- i have not heard the pilium. really should have heard ‘em but decided on boulder instead.

- wrt signal path...if it were me, i’d drop the macbook pro as roon server and replace with innuos zenith mark 3 running as roon core....then into dac...

 

[alvinjamur]

Here is my full signal chain. Now just waiting for the pre-amp and a bunch of gik room treatments to arrive...all else is here and burning in...

innuos statement ~ (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ dcs rossini ~ (vh audio clock cables) ~ dcs rossini clock ~ (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ boulder 1110 pre amp (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ boulder 1110 pre-amp - (nordost valhalla2 speaker cables) ~ magico m3 speakers

...furutech outlet ~ furutech ncf ~ nordost odin power cable ~ nordost qx4 ~ [nordost qbase8 mark ii ~ nordost qv2 + nordost qv2] ~ nordost tyr2 ~ [innuos statement, rossini clock, rossini dac, boulder 2160] AND nordost valhalla2 ~ boulder 1110 preamp

...all sitting on 2x2 hrs sxr racks

 

[chuck]

Here is my full signal chain. Now just waiting for the pre-amp and a bunch of gik room treatments to arrive...all else is here and burning in...

innuos statement ~ (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ dcs rossini ~ (vh audio clock cables) ~ dcs rossini clock ~ (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ boulder 1110 pre amp (nordost valhalla2 xlr balanced) ~ boulder 1110 pre-amp - (nordost valhalla2 speaker cables) ~ magico m3 speakers

...furutech outlet ~ furutech ncf ~ nordost odin power cable ~ nordost qx4 ~ [nordost qbase8 mark ii ~ nordost qv2 + nordost qv2] ~ nordost tyr2 ~ [innuos statement, rossini clock, rossini dac, boulder 2160] AND nordost valhalla2 ~ boulder 1110 preamp

...all sitting on 2x2 hrs sxr racks

I see you opted for the 1110 rather than the 2110. How did you make the call?

 

[alvinjamur]

Sorry! My signature has now been corrected. I have the Boulder 2110....I was able to do the deal on it and get a 2110 instead of the 1110. The 2110 is THE best preamp i have ever had.

Am waiting on a pair of Magico Qsub 15s to complete the setup...

 

[LL21]

Sorry! My signature has now been corrected. I have the Boulder 2110....I was able to do the deal on it and get a 2110 instead of the 1110. The 2110 is THE best preamp i have ever had.

Am waiting on a pair of Magico Qsub 15s to complete the setup...

Look forward to reading more about how your Q15s [hopefully] transform your fantastic system even further! Most seriously beginning to investigate all-out assault on deep bass so definitely looking for those with significant experience. If you have any time to post, that would be great. When do the Q15s arrive? Enjoy!

 

[dan31]

Wow!

Must be a great sounding system nice pairing of the Boulder and Magico M3. Enjoy your system.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Nice system .
I love boulder buildquality