Hegel H360 comparing to seperates?

Buying a H360 today and will also play around with usb cables to see whats up with streaming thru usb otherwise I never heard my speakers sound so fast and clean! very musical and involving without murdering lesser/older recordings although the last statement may have more to do with system synergy. If you don't need 250 wpc the H190 is tits!

The Hegel is an excellent integrated I would say there are tons of other great integrated amps you may want to also check out.

I will agree that today there are some amazing integrated amplifiers which can actually beat some excellent separates from

We sell the T+A gear from Germany and their HV 3000 integrated an $18k integrated amplifier was compared to $120k worth of CH Precision gear in the Absolute Sound magazine, and Allan Taffel was having difficulty telling a difference between the two setups, so yes you can actually get an integrated amplifier today that can beat or rival really good state of the art separates. There are also other world class integrated amps from Gryphon, Vitus and others. So you may want to look at some of the more expensive higher end integrated amplifiers.

T+A also makes a less expensive line the R series which offers at $11k integrated which offers much of the same sound quality as the bigger integrated amplifier which means world class performance.

It will come down to the sound quality you seek and if you need the power of the Hegel. The Hegel sound is clean, clear, open with great bass, the built in dac is very good, however, you may prefer an integrated which has more tone color or a wider set of features.

We have the Micromega M100 which is close to the same price $4,500.00 it is a fantastic piece of hardware with a few advantages over the Hegel.

The Micromega is a class a/b amplifier and has a very lush midrange and a very tight punchy bass, it offers a streaming dac, and a streaming music app, it also has a built in phono stage, headphone amp and here is a big advantage you can get an optional room correction module which can really help you get the best sound in any room add in Aptx blu tooth, DLNA, and Airplay and you have a Swiss army knife in connectivity.

You may also want to look at the Naim Uniti line which is also a fantastic integrated amplifier line, with the advantage of having an incredible app, as well as offering an echo system of streaming speakers so you can easily have a Naim connected sound throughout your home.

So my point is there are many different options you can use at the same price with different options or at a higher price with even better sound then perhaps your separates.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

But don't expect Hegel to back you up if you run into any problems. They are Nordic Neanderthals when it comes to customer service. Been there with them. Caveat emptor.

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.

Hegel DACs? You must be joking. Once you listen to the PS Audio DirectStream then Hegel is quickly despatched.