Intg Amps: Hegel 590 vs NAD M33 Masters vs Gryphon Diablo 120

h590 is sonically vastly superior than the nad (leaving aside the nad’s ability to do dirac, which may benefit some room applications) - top hegel is one of the very best, purest sounding amps out there, regardless of price

can’t speak to how to compares to the small gryphon

word to the wise -- savvy buyers would snap up well-cared-for, used h590... now that hegel has introduced the h600

improvements are in the dac section, the amp section is the same (bent holter’s revised thinking on amp design was installed in the h590 when it was introduced, and now carried forth into the 600 without material change)

at the prices that h590’s are trading at, one can obtain truly ’highest tier’ quality of solid state amplification for a silly low price (as such things go... in the sphere megabuck/nosebleed amps like d’agostino, boulder, dartzeel, gryphon et al)...

i currently own the hegel h590 as well as the pass int60, have many hours with each into my modded maggie 1.7i’s and stock 3.7i’s

i have heard the gryphon 300 at some length driving maggies but not in my own system

when i recommend the hegel h590 to buyers wanting a higher power integrated amp, i am doing so on absolute performance and performance for $ spent (call it value)

at $12-13k the hegel competes favorably with $30k dagostino’s, $20k gryphons and so on based on performance (sound quality, ability to drive touch loads effortlessly and so on), but of course, there are sonic differences among these amps and there are ’pride of ownership’ differences too -- exclusivity, bling factor, made in xyz and so on

there is no free lunch in this world, much less in a competitive marketplace, you give up a few things to get the performance with hegel compared to more exclusive competing products -- hegel comes in a plain wrapper, assembled in china

pass is made in auburn california, has a cool meter, dag has bling aplenty, gryphon looks like a piece of industrial art, made in scandivania -- folks with money to buy any of these can choose what they want, what makes them feel good about owning a certain piece of expensive high priced stereo gear

the pass int60 has a warmer sound than the hegel, which is steadfastedly neutral and resolving (not lean, not shrill, but neutral), papa nelson adds something to the sound of his class a units... driven hard, the pass will clip earlier and show some strain earlier than the 590

my observations from actually owning these units, take from these comments what you will

at 12-13K the hegel h590 (and its replacement) is fully competitive in performance to the other names mentioned, at $6-7k used, it is a steal... performance and value wise -- you want other stuff, the others are readily available too