Please take it for what it is worth:
I heard both the H360 and the Hegel Reference separates - pre/amp/DAC with Blade IIs at the Los Angeles Audio Show. The demo used the H360 and its internal DAC vs. the separates and though there was a difference, I found it fairly small. There was much more of a difference between the Rost, their new integrated, and the H360 and to me the price spread between the two was very worth it. The H360 was able to control the Blades with finesse and sounded great. Maybe the Hegel DACs are just not to your liking since it seems that both the integrated line DAC and the reference sound pretty similar. I do not have a DAC recommendation, but I would also say I love MBL; I've heard most of their gear over the last 4-5 years and it got me thinking about building another system, it is that good to me. Anyway, I hope this helps.
I heard both the H360 and the Hegel Reference separates - pre/amp/DAC with Blade IIs at the Los Angeles Audio Show. The demo used the H360 and its internal DAC vs. the separates and though there was a difference, I found it fairly small. There was much more of a difference between the Rost, their new integrated, and the H360 and to me the price spread between the two was very worth it. The H360 was able to control the Blades with finesse and sounded great. Maybe the Hegel DACs are just not to your liking since it seems that both the integrated line DAC and the reference sound pretty similar. I do not have a DAC recommendation, but I would also say I love MBL; I've heard most of their gear over the last 4-5 years and it got me thinking about building another system, it is that good to me. Anyway, I hope this helps.