I'll clarify what I sent you earlier.
When I heard the Burson and the modded Burson, it was in a system where the SB (boulder statement mod) was directly driving a single ended 300B based tube amp. The difference was very noticible and for the better with the stock Burson. The difference with the modded one was nothing short of staggering. When we went back to just the stock Burson, everyone collectively went 'ick' (sorry for the technical term) even though we had all heard a nice improvement when it was in over the SB->amp direct.
I do not know what kind of difference it will make with a preamp in the loop as in theory a lot of the issue is simply that the SB doesn't like the impedance mismatch of driving the amp directly. Even so, it was such a large difference that I told Wayne I wanted one on the spot (something I NEVER do).
The power supply difference from stock to the Elpac is a very worthwhile improvement. Elpac to my older Boulder PS (a modded Rev 1 Basic) is along the same order of magnitude change. The new one is pretty steep price wise and I'm personally not going there quite yet - other fish to fry. It's like anything else, the differences get smaller and smaller but the full blown PS does definitely add some detail, finesse, clarity, quietness, etc. I personally just am not spending another grand on that.
If you decide to do the Statement mods to the SB, just be prepared for a break-in. There are both BlackGate and VH Teflon caps in the unit. Both take up to 500 hrs to really settle in. My Statement now has about 300 hrs on it and I'm absolutely giddy already. The difference between my SB2->MHDT Paradesea combo and it is not at all subtle. Money very well spent in my opinion.
If you're going to be at RMAF, I'll have the Statement SB3 there and HOPEFULLY a modded Burson. At a minimum, I'll have my old Boulder PS. Stop on by - I'm sharing a room with Mike Dzurko from ACI. Electronics will be a Korato tube preamp driving the 100 WPC (30 WPC Class A) Korato bipolar solid state dual mono amp. Speakers will be ACI Sapphire XL's.
Bryan