[tonyptony]

Some of you may have seen Wayne's comment about having sent out a prototype Ultimate PS for review (see here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=42165.20 ). Well, I'm the one he sent it to. I have just spent the last day and a half listening to it (but I'm not done with it yet).

I got it early during the workweek, but was unable to start listening to it until yesterday. Good thing, though. Wayne tells me this may possibly be a variant of the Mk.II. The difference as he tells me is that while the Mk.II is point-to-point wired, this Mk.III has the same circuit design but is built up on a single custom circuit board. Based on what Wayne has told me that's supposed to be the extent of the change relative to the Mk.II. When I got it it had just been built up without too many hours on it, so I took the time that I could not use listening to it to burn it in, playing music from the moment I got it until I stated listening to it for real. I think I put about 60 or 70 hours on it before Friday, so it was at least burned in a little bit. I used a combination of random shuffling of my music collection and Internet radio being fed through my SB3 to load down the supply.

Now, I've never heard the Mk.II so I can't use that as a basis of comparison (but don't forget, Wayne, that if you do a fall U.S. tour I still want to try it  ). But I do use an unmodified Elpac linear supply for my SB3 (it's the W-075 or whatnot that everyone started buying a while back). I will say up front that - as good as it sounds - I never thought my SB3 sounded as good through my DAC as my Proceed PDT3 (a world class transport in its day). Tonally it is a close match, but in terms of dynamics and soundstage depth (among other things to a smaller degree) it could not compare to my transport. This is not a negative, though. For the price I think the SB3 is awesome and use it quite regularly as a source. And it did get better with Wayne's digital mods, no question about that.

I'm not good at flowing descriptives with audio, so I'll get to the point. The "Mk.III" supply improved dynamics, low end articulation, and the sense of "blackness" between notes to a noticeable degree over the Elpac. Female vocals in particular sounded less fatiguing, closer to my Proceed. The improved blackness helped with the impression that there was more space from front to back, but even with that could not meet the quality of my transport. The low end, especially acoustic instruments like basses, seemed easier to track in their small modulation changes. I found it easier to listen to music for longer periods with the "Mk.III" than with the Elpac. In that respect it was much closer to my transport. I would put it like this -

-----------|------------------------------|----------------|--------------------
             Elpac                                    Mk.III                 PDT3

However, I did note that in comparison to me transport the overall sound of the SB3 + Mk.III combination seemed to favor the lower end of the spectrum slightly. Not sure if this is because the supply needs further burn in, but it was a slight difference only. When all's said and done, does it make the music sound better? An unquestionable yes. Will it make your SB3 better your own transport and DAC combination? Can't say, only you can tell that.

What I do want is to be able to play with this and the current Mk.II at the same time!

I plan on listening to more music through the rest of the weekend, but now mostly just to listen, not analyze. Take that for what it's worth.

[pearsall001]

I'm ready & waiting for some more of your wife's scrumptious strawberry pie. When you're ready for another set of ears, give me a holler!!

[tonyptony]

Woo-hoo! I think I may be able to have the Mk.III and Mk.II in-house at the same time! That's the bomb! 

Phil, strawberries are out of season, my friend. But my wife may be able to come up with an alternative..... 

[tonyptony]

Just an update for all, one of the Mk.IIs that's on the road tour should be arriving today (thanks Brett and Wayne!), so I'll have it and the prototype Mk.III in the house. I should point out that with extensive burn in the Mk.III is sounding even better, which is what I was hoping would happen. But the prospect of having a BOLDER shootout in my own home is too much to deal with; I may not make it out alive!
      

[Wayne1]

Tony,

Please let us all know what you think of any differences you might hear. The Ultimate PS does take about a month of 24/7 use to fully break-in. Some of this has to do with the use of the Silver plated AC parts.

I do not expect there to be any really large differences between the two supplies. When I compared the newly built MK III to a new build MK II I did hear a difference, but it was very subtle. I could not say one was better than the other, just a little different. Of course I haven't had a chance to hear the MK II with any real time on it and I may be proven completely wrong 

Have fun!

[bprice2]

Hi Wayne,

I'm not sure I understand what the MK III is.  I read that it is built on a circuit board and assume that is done to cut down on your work time.  If so, does that mean the MK III will be sold for less?  Or, is it a tit for tat trade-off in regards to cost?

Thanks,

Brett

P.S.  Tony, it looks like the MK II went out for delivery this morning.  Have fun!

[Wayne1]

Brett,

The MK III is built on a single circuit board with the same parts (except for the transformer) as the MK II. The concept was to reduce labor involved in assembly of the PS while maintaining the same quality of sound. We will see if this project is successful  . I am also having a VERY nice case made for it, with all the machining done.

The cost of the circuit board in "small" quantities is rather high. I do not anticipate any price reductions in the MK III. In fact, with the new case, it will end up selling for more than the MK II.

[bprice2]

Thanks for explaining, Wayne.

I am also having a VERY nice case made for it, with all the machining done.

I look forward to seeing pics.

[tonyptony]

Okay, here it is. My follow on review, which takes another look at the BOLDER Mk.III supply versus my transport, the BOLDER Mk.II supply I received from Brett, and my unmodified aftermarket Elpac WM075 linear which I use normally to run my SB3. Small reminder, my SB3 has the full set of digital mods (to date) which Wayne currently offers.

My friend Phil (pearsall001) came over to make sure I wasn't imagining things, and to eat some of the fresh peach muffins my wife made to help out the listening session.   I had everything cooking for at least two hours before we began. Phil let me borrow his Mapleshade digital cable, and we did the bulk of our listening with that in place instead of my Siltech. Long story short the Mapleshade made every supply I hooked up sound better than when I was using the Siltech. It even ultimately sounded better than my Toslink connection.

We started by listening to some transport vs. SB3 with the Mk.III. Now by this point the Mk.III had well over 300 hours of break in, and it suddenly showed. Just as an aside, I did not take Wayne's suggestion and listen to the SB3 / Mk.III a lot while it was breaking in; I did not want to fall prey to the "it sounds great (oh, I really just got used to it)" syndrome. So in between the last formal listening session (July 8th) and this one (last Saturday) I did not listen to the unit, but left it running with a music feed to break in. I also had another session by myself this evening.

If you read my initial review at the top, you'll note that it was easy to hear the Mk.III was better than the Elpac, but that it seemed to be a bit short in the soundstaging (but still again better than the Elpac). The further burned-in Mk.III had no such limitation - it demonstrated soundstaging that was equal to my transport, with better macrodynamics and power. Transient attack was excellent. All this was with either the Siltech or Mapleshade cable, so it wasn't a cable swap phenomenon; the Mapleshade just made everything sound better. I did notice again - and even more so - that the Mk.III really made the low end drop all the way into the basement. I mean, it was low and powerful... to my mind maybe a little too powerful for the room. My L and R speakers each have two 8" transmission line woofers that go pretty darn low (musical energy can be heard / sensed down to 30Hz, if not a bit lower). And I have a reasonably large open room to play in. Makes for some weird room modes but it does give the speakers a chance to breathe. Even with this I still felt the low end was "sticking out" from the rest of the music.

So now comes the Mk.II. I was struck by a number of things: the same tremendous improvement in dynamics, low end articulation, and blackness. But the low end was now powerful, extended, and of a piece with the rest of the music! (Phil, I did a bit of listening tonight with more of my own music, and while we may not have heard it as clearly on Saturday, believe me it's true). The Mk.II is just a flat out better PS, at least in my system. It has all of the great things the Mk.III brought to my listening, and a low end that does not overwhelm the rest of the presentation (again, in my system and in my room). I'm not saying the Mk.II is a lightweight in the low end - it's clearly not. It goes lower and is more articulate with this low end power than my PDT3. The SB3 / Mk.II combo was the clear winner of all the combinations I tried.

Recall my first impression was this

-----------|------------------------------|----------------|--------------------
             Elpac                                    Mk.III                 PDT3


I'd put the second listening of the SB3 / Mk.III like this

                                                                          Mk.III
-----------|-------------------------------------------|---|--------------------
             Elpac                                                             PDT3


And the final opinion of the SB3 / Mk.II like this

                                                                                         Mk.II
-----------|-----------------------------------------------|------|-------------
             Elpac                                                             PDT3


Wayne, I don't know why the Mk.III presents this "not of a piece" quality in my system. Maybe it's right but just showing the limits of my low end drivers. Maybe the additional low end energy is hitting a room mode that is creating this problem. I don't know. But I do know the Mk.III is good, maybe better than good in a matching system. The Mk.II was the lottery ticket winner in my system.

One last note. When Phil and I were done with the BOLDER PS listening, we plugged my Elpac back in. To our combined suprise it didn't sound that bad. It still (to my ears) was not as good as the BOLDERs, but it seemed closer to them than my first listening session that I did on my own. Well, I did a lot more listening tonight comparing it to the Mk.II and Mk.III, and I have to believe maybe our ears were just a little worn out on Saturday. On the weekend I heard the same problem I heard the first time - a harder presentation, flatter soundstage, more mechanical sound - but not as much as I remembered. Tonight it was once again very apparent, with a rested set of ears. Buying a good linear will give you an improvement, but when all's said and done my ratings above for the Elpac still stand.

Wayne has done a great job with both of these supplies. The Mk.II showed itself to be as good as everyone thinks it is. The Mk.III will also provide a huge improvement, but in my case it was not as synergistic a fit into my system. It may be for those who have speakers with more limited low end energy.

BTW, I listened to both of these supplies with Wayne's 3' Nitro DC cable and a 6' Summit AC Cable, which he sent with the Mk.III. I did not want to introduce too many variables in the listening sessions, and I figured I'd use Wayne's cutting edge cables as he intended. The Mk.II came with another set (white instead of blue outer covering) which I did not try.

[pearsall001]

Tony, great followup review. I must say your writing is spot on. It was a very relaxing and fun day. Great system you have there by the way. Kudos to Caroline for the extrodinary culinary treats that packed about 5lbs on me by the end of the day (well worth it!!)

It was obvious that Wayne's two PS's are quite impressive. Some of the differences were very subtle where others were quite apparent. I won't go into detail here...you covered it quite nicely. The man knows his stuff & is to be commended on two fine products.

I was very happy that I could lend an ear for the day. We'll have to do it again soon. Do you have any other gear coming in to critique? Just give me a holler, I'm there.

Phil

[Daygloworange]

The Bolder Ultimate Mk III is in da hause! 

Thanks Tony.

I'll follow up with my thoughts on the differences between it and my modded Elpac. I'll see if I can get mcgsxr interested in bringing by his Bolder Rev. 1 P.S. for a side by side.

Stay tuned...

Cheers

[tonyptony]

No problem Dayglow! As I'm the only one who's heard the Mk.III so far (besides Wayne, of course  ), I'm very interested to read what others think about it. What's the rest of your system like?

[Daygloworange]

My system at the moment comprises of Bolder Cable full analog modded SB 3 (No Bybees) running straight into an ATI 1202 power amp. Speakers are GR Research OB 5, OB 7, and RAW Acoustics HT 8's, and GR Research PR subwoofer.

I also plan on adding the Bolder/Burson buffer between the SB 3 and power amp.

Cheers

[Wayne1]

Denny,

Actually Tony sent you the Ultimate PS MKII. That is the current production PS. The MKIII that Tony auditioned was a prototype that was returned to me.

If I can find room, I will be bringing the MKIII prototype to St. Louis to let the guys in GAS take a listen to it. I believe there are at least two Ultimate PS MKII out there to compare to the MKIII.

I do have a couple of ideas about a change to the circuit that might be beneficial. I implemented some of them today in my original Ultimate PS prototype. I will try to bring that out to the midwest to listen to, as well.

If these ideas work out, MKII PS can be updated with the new circuit.

[bluewax]

Out of curiosity, where does the original Ultimate PS (my system by way of Double Ugly) fall in this heirarchy? I'm also looking forward to modified Burson Buffer down the line.

Cheers, bw

[Daygloworange]

Denny,

Actually Tony sent you the Ultimate PS MKII. That is the current production PS. The MKIII that Tony auditioned was a prototype that was returned to me.

Oh, ok. Thanks for clarifying Wayne. Hopefully I can get mcgsxr's Rev1 to do a side by side and get a feel for where the Ultimate MkIII might be when we discuss the evolution of your power supplies.

Thanks. 

Cheers

[Wayne1]

bw,

I believe you had me update that very large PS before you received it. That puts it at MKII status.

Denny,

I hope you and Mark can get together and compare all the PS. Enjoy 

[tonyptony]

Denny,

Actually Tony sent you the Ultimate PS MKII. That is the current production PS. The MKIII that Tony auditioned was a prototype that was returned to me.

Ack! Here I go just confusing things.    I didn't make the connection between your AC name and your email address. Sorry Denny!

I thought for a second Wayne had quickly shuttled off the Mk.III I had to someone else.

So Wayne, it sounds from your last post that maybe you had some thoughts about the sound of the Mk.III. I know there's a strong system synergy element to any kind of listening opinion, but would you have had any remote sense of agreeing with my general review of the Mk.III? It's important that I find out if my listening skills (which were pretty good at one time ) have faltered over the years. You can be honest in this open discussion; I can take it. 

[Daygloworange]

Just a brief update.

I finally got a chance to insert the Ultimate Mk II into my system late last night.

I started off with listening to my SB 3 with my Bolder modded Elpac. Then after about an hour and a half, inserted the Ultimate.

The difference was immediate. The difference is across the board.

I'm going to refrain from any specific comments at this time, and will pretend I am the first one to ever hear the modded power supply on an SB 3. I find reviewing things and putting precisely and completely what I heard into words quite difficult.

But from what I heard so far with the Ultimate Mk II, the improvement to overall sound of the SB 3 is vast and comprehensive. It's an improvement in a lot of areas over the Elpac.

Cheers

[tonyptony]

Denny, waiting patiently for your review!