Summary:
If you are happy as a clam and satisfied with your
overall system performance. Here is something which
could really ruin your day. This unique product is a Superb preamp, DCS stomping DA converter and superlative phono stage all rolled into one.

One thing most people notice is the wide frequency bandwidth. The top end has air and more air while the bass has an extra octave ( feels like it anyway). Then comes the dynamics and transients, like nothing out there. The DAC section provides what Boulder calles "UpandOversampling". Boosting mundane CD's to the 705khz sampling range. The DA can handle up to 24/192 inputs and upsamples that also.
If you are happy as a clam with your Wadia 27x, DCS etc..
Then do not come near this unit!! One thing to note is that
the 1012 is EXTREMELY sensitive to the digital cable used. Some cables are musical but will lose the dynamics and soundstage. More neutral cables lose a bit of musicality.

Did I mention the onboard phono stage? It will outperform ALOT of top notch phono stages out there; there is air , air and more air . It accomodates both MM and MC; 80db worth of gain for the MC users -yes!

The 1012 is well... little expensive to say the least but a joke it is not. I will not be surprised that , each subsection of this unit (DA,preamp, phono stage) is able to
hold its own against the best out there... and I don't mean the high end.. I mean the top end. There is currently nothing out there that does all this in one unit.

Word of warning... the cost of this unit may start a domino effect. It may force you to reconsider other things in your entire system!!!!

Strengths:
Freq bandwidth, Dynamics, neutrality.

Weaknesses:
Shows weaknesses of other components in the chain if its not up to snuff.

Similar Products Used:
Ayre K1x, Wadia 27x, Ayre D1, DCS elgar& upsampler.