Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?

@kennyc 

In the end, it comes down to personal taste. I think there is a learning curve too. I was very happy with my ARC PH-3 for many years and then one day I felt like something was missing and traded up. That was, I think, my right brain telling me something, and music is "listened" to by the right brain. The left brain dissects what we likes and puts it into language, but music is beyond words, as we all know.

The reason I didn't look at the Magico, besides the dealer being far away, was because I'd heard its treble was more transparent than the Sonus Faber, and the treble on the new Sonus Faber Olympica Novas is transparent enough for me with a silk domed tweeter.

I've heard Vandersteens many times and there is a Vandersteen dealer in Santa Monica, but Vandersteen is pretty much in the "accurate" zone. I lean a bit more toward a bit of "romance" and musicality. 

I’m thoroughly enjoying my Wilson Sabrina speakers. Not analytical at all. 
I think the older Wilsons with the Focal inverted metal dome tweeter could sound bright depending on the room acoustics and associated equipment. My Sabrinas have a silk dome tweeter. The sound is very natural and realistic. All depends on the setup and obviously personal preference. But I’m not a fan of analytical presentation or overly detailed artificial sound. My setup sounds great. I would even say it leans slightly warm. There are challenges with Wilson speakers yes…but when dialed in they are great. 

@audphile1 

Remind me of the electronics you use in front of the Wilsons. When I heard them demoed I was almost twenty-feet away from them. We used an ARC REF. 2 Mk.2 preamp and the Hovland Radia amp. That should have softened the Wilsons quite a bit, but to me they had a kind of British sound. Exacting but lacking color. I have the same problem with Vandersteins. It's like I can appreciate their technical abilities, but I can't fall in love with them. 

@audio-b-dog boulder 866 integrated. Previously had pass x30.8 and x260.8 with xp-22. And you know the dac. Table is VPI Prime X running Hana Umami Blue cartridge into Whest 30 RDT SE phono. 
 

I owned Dynaudio before and absolutely did not enjoy them. Prior to Dyns I owned B&W N803 with pass X250.5 and ARC LS25 and Ref 1. Loved B&Ws but they took a while to get right with electronics and room. 

Any of the modern high end speakers can hunt you down and hurt you in an untreated room, badly placed and with crappy electronics. 

I’m familiar with SF Olimpica Nova. Easy to make them sound bright. But with the right electronics and room they sound great. 
 

@audphile1 

I’m sure my room is problematic with windows along the side of the left speaker and a large openening about 12’ on the side of the right speaker. Still the speakers can sound great with the right music. Not much I can do about the room, though. I am trying to get over my audiophilia-nervosa and relax and enjoy what I have. Just about everyone could make their system sound better. 

I think I may have told you this story, but the most I ever enjoyed a stereo was when my father bought me a Sears Silvertone $100 suitcase stereo which I took to college. I never gave a thought to whether it could sound better. I remember standing on my bed naked conducting Bernstein’s version of the Firebird Suite. 

I published a letter in Stereophile in the mid-nineties talking about a group of young people in their twenties in 1890 sitting on the grass having a picnic. A friend joins them with a wind-up record player. I posed the question about whether that first hearing of music outside a concert hall, away from musicians, would be more suprising and enjoyable than we experience with our expensive rigs.

BTW, how would you characterize the sound of your Boulder?