Boulder Launches Two New Products at High End Vienna 2026

Munich has long been home to the world’s largest high-end audio show, but this year brought a new adventure as the event moved from Munich, Germany to Vienna, Austria. By now, Munich had become familiar territory for us. We knew the venue, we knew where we would be located within the exhibition center, and we knew our way around the city. Vienna, however, was entirely new. While we did our research beforehand, the week would still be filled with firsts.

With so many new variables surrounding the event and venue, we figured we might as well make things even more interesting by introducing two new products: the 808 Phono Preamplifier and the 851 Mono Power Amplifier.

The 508 Phono Preamplifier had served us well for many years, but it didn’t offer the level of customization many customers were looking for. The new 808 builds upon everything we learned from the 508 while adding a much greater degree of flexibility. At the heart of this customization are Boulder’s Personality Cards, which allow users to precisely tailor resistive and capacitive loading to match the requirements of their specific phono cartridge.

The introduction of Smart Current Technology in our new 1100 Series amplifiers was met with an overwhelmingly positive response. That success led us to explore how we could bring the same technology to an 800 Series-sized chassis. After months of research and development, the result was the 851 Mono Power Amplifier. Despite its compact footprint, the 851 delivers 100 watts into 8Ω, 200 watts into 4Ω, and 350 watts into 2Ω.

Over the years, we’ve built strong relationships throughout the audio industry, and we know that a truly exceptional system cannot come together with our products alone. Clearaudio generously loaned us an Innovation Compact turntable, while a former Boulder employee connected us with someone at Siltech, who supplied the cables and interconnects. Our German distributor, HiFi-ve, also represents YG Acoustics, allowing us to complete the system with a pair of Hailey 3 loudspeakers. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to each of these companies for helping make this system a reality.

The finished system surprised many show attendees. We lost count of how many times we were asked if the 851s were Class D amplifiers. Their compact size often led people to that assumption, making it all the more satisfying when they discovered what was actually inside.