When you audition the Boulder, make sure the equipment has been turned on and playing music for at least 24 hours. If listening from a cold power up, or even a recent power up, the treble will sound forward and exhibit other solid state attributes (read "bad"). When fully warmed up, Boulder equipment is extremely liquid, neutral, three dimensional and lifelike. The sound is gorgeous. The 2000 series offers better liquidity, more three dimensionality, and a more realistic midrange than the 1000 series, while the 1000 series sounds faster and dynamically more explosive (not necessarily a bad thing). I think Boulder gets a bad rap sometimes because people audition the equipment cold, and it does sound really bad when cold. I leave my stuff on all the time. Hope this helps.