Hopefully someone chimes in who's not only heard both, but heard them through the exact same speakers in the same room. Too many comparisons don't meet that modest threshold, and end up being apples to oranges. I was checking out the Parasound Halo (but haven't heard it) myself so I'm interested in how the thread progresses... |
Very interested, also, in this thread. Seriously considering the Parasound, but unfortunately, nobody carries the Halo integrated locally. I've also heard good things about the Hegel. I'll be watching...and reading. |
No comparison, the Hegel 160 is a beautiful sounding integrated.
I have heard them with Kef LS50's , Audio physic classic 30's and B&W's
The hegel has great tonality & dynamics the Parasound has an edgy or
a digital sound to it, and falls short in the lower end extension. |
Zzzcue57,
What sources and cables were used when you listened to the Parasound Halo integrated? |
I'm interested in both integrated amps. Thinking of pairing them with Paradigm Prestige. |
BUMP, Anybody who thinks all watts sound the same being vube or class a,a-b, d whatever needs to listen to hegel> I just had the H 360 in my system, I pulled my anthem 225I out and the midrange came alive. At triple the list price you hear the difference easily. I believe once your speakers reach a quality say $4k and above amplifier quality becomes more important dollar for dollar than upgrading speakers. @ $4000 pair of speakers with $4k amplification will out preform a $6k pair of speakers with $2k in amplification in my experience. No cheating the hangman. |
steve59-
what gear, including cabling, is in your system?
I have heard the Anthem 225 on several occasions.
Happy Listening!
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I've only heard the Parasound Halo a few times but each time it never left an impression on me. The few times I heard the Hegel, I kept telling myself his one should stay on the list. The sound was full, clean and natural. You really need to listen to both and trust your ears. Too bad it's so hard to find brick and mortar stores that carries this stuff theses days. |
I know this always happens that someone chimes in with an alternative but I can't resist. A friend of mine just purchased a Plinius Hautonga and uses Paradigm Studio 100's. The sound is fantastic! There are two of these units for sale here on the 'gon right now. I have heard both the Plinius and Hegel amps albeit on separate systems. While comparable, I give a slight edge to the Plinius. Good luck.
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I've heard both Hegel H160 and H200. If sound is more important than having the dac, then H200 would be the way to go. A used H200 is around $2k right now, and I think that's a great deal for a good amp like the H200. |
Just spent a few hours comparing Hegel H-160 with Parasound Halo integrated. The aim was to se how much better a new integrated would be replacing a XTZ class a100D3 divine.
We used USB input on Halo and Hegel and Meridian Explorer2 on XTZ, Tidal HIFI (and a few tunes in Master quality) from a Macbook air as source. Speaker was Magnepan MG .7
To ensure same sound level a dB meter was used.
To make a long history short: Halo sounded like hi res music compared to Hegel and XTZ. More detailed, airier treble and midrange. Hegel was a bit harsh compairing. The XTZ sounded OK but was quite blurred, muddier.
(But you really got to have high quality recording to be able to hear this imo. Poorly quality recordings leaves the whole ($$$) set up above meaningless!
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So I just returned the hegel rost int, My system is 2005 ultima salon driven by a parasound a21 with a krell kav 300 il serving as a preamp since it sounded amazing when both amp and pre worked. I used a rega jupiter with a coax out to the rost input and bi amped using the rost to drive the top and the a 21 the bottom.cables and wire are average, kimber 4tc, apature and omniwire digital. I preferred the hegel again in the midrange for the added clarity and realism, the rost 80 wpc wasn't as clean up top in my system but I really had to turn it up compared to the h 360 or a21 alone so if the parasound halo int is comparable to the a 21 in sound I would buy the h160 provided it had the power to drive my speakers full range. What both hegel products did that my a 21 didn't was get rid of that last little bit of grain that makes the music feel live not recorded. The rost 80 wpc and h360 250 wpc sounded alike and if my speakers didn't need tons of power I would buy it and save $2700 the units sounded so alike that I would expect the same from all the hegel products. My dealer didn't have a h 160 but says a h 190 is a couple weeks out and if it can drive the salon's full range i'll probably buy it.
for jafant
I bought my anthem 225i after listening to them drive the f 208 at the dealer and then at home driving my f 52's and I still think it's a really good product for the money and it can drive anything but it doesn't have the depth and balance of the parasound or clarity of the hegel's.
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Thank You- steve59.
Happy Listening!
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