CES 2009

Boulder to the MAXX

John Atkinson  |  Jan 9, 2009

Although Mikey Fremer has received a pair for review, I haven't visited his Jersey crib yet to take a listen. So the system in Boulder's room at CES was my first chance to audition Wilson's new MAXX 3. I popped a data disc with some of my hi-rez 24-bit/88.2kHz files in the Boulder 1021 CD player, and a list of the WAV files appeared on the player's screen. The 1021 will play data CDs carrying FLAC, WAV, Vogg Orbis, and MP3 files, and as I found, will decode and play hi-rez files.

The masters of my recent Cantus recording While You Are Alive sounded open and spacious on the new Wilsons, while the drums on the master of "Blizzard Limbs," from Attention Screen's Live at Merkin Hall, really showed off the MAXX 3s' dynamic capabilities when driven by a Boulder 2050 power amp.

COMMENTS
Jerry's picture
Submitted by Jerry (not verified) on January 9, 2009 - 6:51pm

John, can you find anything of quality made in the USA and under $1,000 to report on. To date only Jon Iverson and the "Screamin' Streamers" by High Resolution Technologies fit that bill. They appear to be a product that I want to check out, if they are indeed a domestic product I don't believe that the Decco Nova or any Signal Path International products are made in the US.I would like to see reporting on some realistically priced quality products made in the US, so I won't be contributing to the trade defecate or require a house mortgage or a maxed out credit card to afford them.Art Dudley in your Dec 08 issue made a very valid point and seems to understand the economy better than the rest of you do. I am a subscriber but not for long.

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