All-in-one: $1k Marantz or $2k Hegel?

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a marantz pm7000n from my local dealer. Opportunity arose with a “virus” sale right before state locked down for several weeks so I won’t get it until the shutdown order lifted but excited for it to replace my Powernode 2 in my third (office) system.

With the craziness of the last few months I never got the chance to do a head to head comparison with the Hegel, which I do regret. But in the end, it came down to opportunity and small window to pull trigger, and in end I’m better off going with the economical option anyway given these uncertain times.

Final office system will be:
marantz pm7000n
Spendor SA1, with Sunfire SDS8 small sub
Signal speaker and sub cables
Pangea power cords
W Audio W-3900 conditioner
Amazonbasics Cat7 Ethernet cable.

Will be exclusively streaming Tidal.

Powernode 2 will be bumped down the lineup to a newly created “portable” system and drive some Paradigm micro v2 speakers for impromptu tune setups in garage or workshop or in hotel rooms while traveling.

Thanks for the nice words and for the anticipation of a further review. 
The reason I didn’t just have it shipped to me was that I ordered a bunch of other stuff too and only put a down payment down so far, expecting the shutdown to be just two weeks and preferring anyway to delay charges to subsequent billing cycle. 
Well now the shutdown just got extended another three weeks so I’m going to try and get this expedited because I’m itching to start breaking the new amp in. 

Completed the marantz purchase today so the pm7000n is on its way. When it gets here and after I get it broken in I’ll post my comparative impressions vs the Powernode 2. 

If you can run Ethernet to it than probably no need for WiFi because you’ll get better stream performance with Ethernet, right?  Assuming h90 can do streaming right over Ethernet without needing another device to be involved- that’s what I could never figure out with Hegel. 
As to Bluetooth, that different. If you need Bluetooth to stream from phone or computer (I don’t) then that is something you have to decide how much you need. 

Wow. Sorry I am no help because I never had chance to do an A/B comparison between the two because the dealership where I was planning to do so has been temporarily closed due to virus for couple months. 
I eventually just went with the 7000n because it was half as expensive as h90 here. 

What differences did you hear when you did compare them?  I always assumed that maybe the Hegel would sound little better (just a guess tho) but I knew I’d be comfortable with marantz Heos streaming interface but wasn’t sure about Hegel stream interface. Those were the two issues I’d have been really scrutinizing if I’d have had chance to demo. 

Well my marantz pm7000n finally arrived. Have about 20 hours on it - using it in office system at work. Setup was a breeze. Literally was streaming Tidal using the pm7000n within 5 minutes of unboxing, and that’s with a firmware update. I already previously had a Heos account established, but still. Easiest out of box to playing music that I’ve seen. Don’t think I’ve had a dropout in 20 hours - using 25 ft cat 8 Ethernet cable (AmazonBasics - $14). Shared office building with around 50 other tenants so I haven’t been able to crank it up yet -- low level volume playing is the norm here.

Performance is better than the Bluesound Powernode 2 in all areas of sound quality, at least to my ears, already. Using Spendor SA1 mini monitors, and occasionally swapping in Kef q150’s. With a Sunfire 8" sub. Is it miles and miles better? No, it’s not. But it’s better for my tastes. Sounds closer to the systems I have at home than did the Powernode. I’m happy with the upgrade.

Bluesound BlueOS is of course better than Heos, because BlueOS is probably better than anything else out there, perhaps Roon excluded (which I haven’t used). But Heos is fine, no problems. All of the different steam interfaces are now getting to be quite similar (I regularly use Lumin, Cambridge StreamMagic, Heos, BlueOS, and have used PlayFi in past (didn’t like that one as much)) -- not as much differentiating them as in the past. Heos is quite similar to Cambridge’s magicstream interface (which I use at home in my secondary system), actually.

Feature-wise, even though the Marantz display is not like my Cambridge Azur 851n with displayed artwork, I find it refreshing to have the display versus the Powernode, which did not have a display. Nice to see the name of the track playing, and the artist, which generally scroll right to left across the screen and are readable from 8 ft away. The pm7000n display is better than the display on my Teac NT-505.

Also, it is really nice to have the remote to change volumes or settings without having to finger-fumble with an iPad screen and possibly inadvertently crank the volume. Just much more tactile satisfying with the remote.

The volumes go from zero upward. There is a volume limit feature, but the lowest setting is 80! That ain’t gonna help me at work, where I’ve not gotten above 20 yet, haha. I liked the Powernode volume range limiting settings much better in that regard.

I was wondering whether the sub output was active when the pm7000n is placed into "source direct" mode, which bypasses the tone controls and purportedly results in a cleaner presentation. I can confirm that it is active (which I am happy about, as the feature would be useless to me had it not been), and that source direct is my preferred mode for streaming. It does sound slightly better, although not a ton of difference.  Reason I was wondering is an Integra streaming receiver I have at home for some reason cut the sub output out of the path when a similar mode is engaged there -- the way it works on the marantz is much better. The indicator light for source direct is strangely really extra bright and bold - I wish it correspondingly dimmed with the rest of the display, but oh well.

Only downside (which I was aware of before purchasing) is the much larger footprint that the pm7000n occupies on my desk versus the Powernode. But that’s the class A/B versus D tradeoff, and I’ll happily take it for the sonic benefits.

More info: my main system is Spendor and ARC and is sound I prefer but this will be much lower budget system. I found the Powernode 2 to sound thin and small and looking for better SQ. 

The Naim Uniti is $3k+, outside of my budget for this system. Similarly for NAD M10 at 2.75ish. 

In reality, at twice the cost the SQ of Hegel will have to be much better than the marantz for me to justify the extra cost, but if it is then it’ll be worth it. 

A UK mag that reviewed the marantz stated it was much better on several levels than the Bluesound Powernode 2i, so that’s positive. For whatever mag reviews are worth ....
Both the Hegel and marantz are class AB.

For sure. The cool part for me is dealer has all three brands (Kef, marantz, Hegel) so if I get lucky and they stock those amps in the showroom I should get to A/B them

Powernode was driving NHT-C1 bookshelves. Office is 14x11ish.
I don’t really have room for floorstanders or stands. Speakers have to sit on a table 2ft from wall. I know not ideal. 

I just haven’t been that satisfied with the fullness of the Powernode/NHT combo I guess. Maybe I’m not describing it correctly but I feel like there are a lot of layers or fullness missing.
Normal office and environment so not loud playing.
Just looking for upgrade

Thanks for link and Denon suggestion. Wasn’t aware of either

Joekapshulu:
Do you know whether the sub output is active when running in direct mode?

Reason I ask is I have a 2ch Integra receiver that I think sounds better in its direct mode for music except doing so kills the sub output and I use bookshelves and need a sub in that system so can’t use the direct mode with that amp 

Thanks, joe.
As to the Hegel wireless question, I guess would have to use Bluetooth or Airplay if those are supported, which I’m not sure because I don’t need to go there, as I’ll be able to run direct Ethernet cable.
Well I missed the LS 50 sale so now I am leaning towards instead migrating my current second system speakers, Spendor SA1 bookshelves, to this system. I doubt that’ll materially affect Hegel v Marantz choice (or denon) but it gives me little more time to get this right.
What I really need to see in person is how the Hegel Tidal interface works. I’m not clear on that issue from Hegel documentation and reviews