Hegel comparison

cundare2, I have a h360  and a h590. Before buying a h590 I tried a stand alone dac for the h360. It has the latest sabre chipset(like the h600).  If you can confirm the 590 and 600 are different because of the dac imo you'd be smart to save the money on the h590 and enjoy it. I'll say the dac in the h590 is good enough that you won't think to replace the onboard dac, but the option's always there.  

My fave was a Krell kav 300il that had a habit of baking itself. I was using an old pair of revel salon 1's when I brought home everything up to $6k price range. My main music was live recordings 1 specifically being 'big head todd and the monsters'. The Parasound A21 was thick in the mids, Anthem 225i, B&K 4420, Peachtree nova 300. sunfire, older Jeff Rowland mono's. The H360 stood out using my radioshack analog db meter to level volume the h360 was the most dynamic and neutral also offering a large soundstage with better image placement and bass. At the time the H190 just came out and while it offered a bit more top end resolution bringing brushes and cymbals into the listening room and more of the audiences cheering into the room I still settled on the h360 for the added 100 wpc thinking I could always upgrade the dac down the road. I would add not all amps have the same impact on speakers. 

Ayre had a bit more open 'stage and a bit more top octave energy without sounding bright while the H590 just has a solid grip on everything. thr h360 was a little less in control that could be better with some music than other. I consider Hegel int's good value for the money. Avanti the p20 is a pre amp, you probably meant the H20.