As we approach the end of the 21st century's "oughts" decade, many feel that playing music from a discrete physical medium is positively <I>20th</I> century. Much of my own music enjoyment now comes from computer files, often high-resolution, streamed to my high-end rig via a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/207slim">Logitech Transporter</A> or <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/computeraudio/bel_canto_usb_link_2496_usb-sp… Canto USB Link 24/96</A>. It is perhaps a paradox, therefore, that high-end audio companies are still devoting so much effort to developing expensive, state-of-the-art disc players. In April I very <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/meridian_8082808i2_signature_refer… reviewed</A> Meridian's superb 808i.2 CD player&#150;preamplifier, which costs $16,995 as reviewed, and Michael Fremer is about to review the ultimate Scarlatti SACD playback system from another English company, dCS. The $80,000 price tag of the Scarlatti makes the subject of my review this month, the Boulder 1021, seem relatively affordable at $24,000.

As we approach the end of the 21st century's "oughts" decade, many feel that playing music from a discrete physical medium is positively <I>20th</I> century. Much of my own music enjoyment now comes from computer files, often high-resolution, streamed to my high-end rig via a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/207slim">Logitech Transporter</A> or <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/computeraudio/bel_canto_usb_link_2496_usb-sp… Canto USB Link 24/96</A>. It is perhaps a paradox, therefore, that high-end audio companies are still devoting so much effort to developing expensive, state-of-the-art disc players. In April I very <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/meridian_8082808i2_signature_refer… reviewed</A> Meridian's superb 808i.2 CD player&#150;preamplifier, which costs $16,995 as reviewed, and Michael Fremer is about to review the ultimate Scarlatti SACD playback system from another English company, dCS. The $80,000 price tag of the Scarlatti makes the subject of my review this month, the Boulder 1021, seem relatively affordable at $24,000.

As we approach the end of the 21st century's "oughts" decade, many feel that playing music from a discrete physical medium is positively <I>20th</I> century. Much of my own music enjoyment now comes from computer files, often high-resolution, streamed to my high-end rig via a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/207slim">Logitech Transporter</A> or <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/computeraudio/bel_canto_usb_link_2496_usb-sp… Canto USB Link 24/96</A>. It is perhaps a paradox, therefore, that high-end audio companies are still devoting so much effort to developing expensive, state-of-the-art disc players. In April I very <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/meridian_8082808i2_signature_refer… reviewed</A> Meridian's superb 808i.2 CD player&#150;preamplifier, which costs $16,995 as reviewed, and Michael Fremer is about to review the ultimate Scarlatti SACD playback system from another English company, dCS. The $80,000 price tag of the Scarlatti makes the subject of my review this month, the Boulder 1021, seem relatively affordable at $24,000.

As we approach the end of the 21st century's "oughts" decade, many feel that playing music from a discrete physical medium is positively 20th century. Much of my own music enjoyment now comes from computer files, often high-resolution, streamed to my high-end rig via a Logitech Transporter or Bel Canto USB Link 24/96. It is perhaps a paradox, therefore, that high-end audio companies are still devoting so much effort to developing expensive, state-of-the-art disc players. In April I very favorably reviewed Meridian's superb 808i.2 CD player–preamplifier, which costs $16,995 as reviewed, and Michael Fremer is about to review the ultimate Scarlatti SACD playback system from another English company, dCS. The $80,000 price tag of the Scarlatti makes the subject of my review this month, the Boulder 1021, seem relatively affordable at $24,000.

In the early to mid-1980s, I read every high-end hi-fi magazine I could get my hands on. Among the consequences was my discovery that the Grado Signature Seven phono cartridge&#151;which was better <I>and cheaper</I> than the Signatures One through Six&#151;was the cartridge that God wanted me to have. So I cut back on all manner of luxuries, saved every dollar I could save, and a few months later brought a walletful of cash to Harvey Sound in midtown Manhattan, where an unpleasant man with a bad comb-over handed me a little pill bottle of a plastic tube.

In the early to mid-1980s, I read every high-end hi-fi magazine I could get my hands on. Among the consequences was my discovery that the Grado Signature Seven phono cartridge&#151;which was better <I>and cheaper</I> than the Signatures One through Six&#151;was the cartridge that God wanted me to have. So I cut back on all manner of luxuries, saved every dollar I could save, and a few months later brought a walletful of cash to Harvey Sound in midtown Manhattan, where an unpleasant man with a bad comb-over handed me a little pill bottle of a plastic tube.

In the early to mid-1980s, I read every high-end hi-fi magazine I could get my hands on. Among the consequences was my discovery that the Grado Signature Seven phono cartridge&#151;which was better <I>and cheaper</I> than the Signatures One through Six&#151;was the cartridge that God wanted me to have. So I cut back on all manner of luxuries, saved every dollar I could save, and a few months later brought a walletful of cash to Harvey Sound in midtown Manhattan, where an unpleasant man with a bad comb-over handed me a little pill bottle of a plastic tube.

In the early to mid-1980s, I read every high-end hi-fi magazine I could get my hands on. Among the consequences was my discovery that the Grado Signature Seven phono cartridge&#151;which was better <I>and cheaper</I> than the Signatures One through Six&#151;was the cartridge that God wanted me to have. So I cut back on all manner of luxuries, saved every dollar I could save, and a few months later brought a walletful of cash to Harvey Sound in midtown Manhattan, where an unpleasant man with a bad comb-over handed me a little pill bottle of a plastic tube.