Luxman vs Hegal

Luxman c900u/m900u and Hegel H390.

I heard the Hegel 360 with KEF Blade 1 and it was good. Not the best Blade sound I have heard. I found it a little hard sounding on top. I am told the Hegel 390 using the internal DAC is smoother than the 360. However, when I heard the Hegel and Blades the top-of-the-line Hegel DAC was used. It was Hegel that was demoing this in a nice room.

Maybe 5 minutes later I went and heard the Luxman c900u/m900u with Vivid Giya Spirit (the top the line today). The Luxman setup was smoother without that hardness I heard with the Hegel. It sounded amazing.

I always prefer the Blade over the Vivid Giya (with proper amplification for both). On that day the Luxman gear made the Vivid more pleasing to my ears.

On another occasion, I heard the Luxman 509x and the Luxman c900u/m900u in the same room with the same speakers back-to-back. I was there to buy the 509x. After t heard the Luxman c900u/m900u combo I had no more interest in the 509x. It is a big difference in sound.

I did not buy the Luxman because I later tried the new KRELL Duo XD lineup and preferred that to the warmer Luxman sound. The KRELL is warm, but I find it not as warm as the Luxman. I have the KRELL Duo 175XD now.

@michobr59 with the release of the Luxman M10X amp I would expect some m900u units to come up for sale.

If I were to get the m900u (I won’t) I would use it with the $2500 Benchmark LA4 preamp, and this has nothing to do with cost. All about sound quality and what I like in a preamp. I use my KRELL Duo 175XD with a LA4 preamp, which is amazing in my office system.

Though I liked the demos with the c900u preamp, today after learning some things, I could not buy it. Mainly because I think a preamp should not color the sound too much and I think the c900u does color it. Though most folks seem to like that color. I did too but I am not sure if I could commit to that warmth long term.

Another combo that I preferred over the c900u/m900u and is a little less warm is the CODA 07x preamp and CODA #16 amp. I thought the KRELL amp sounded like the CODA #16 but with less overall power (2 Ohm). That was the best compliment that I could give the less costly KRELL.

I owned the CODA #8 but sold it to raise cash for a tube headphone amp purchase (turned out great). I am now selling the CODA 07x preamp because I am either getting a second Benchmark LA4 to pair with Benchmark AHB2 monos on a future system. I may ditch the Benchmark plan if I make the drastic decision to buy the new active KEF LS60 speakers (Baby Blades) and sell off some more gear.

The CODA 07x preamp is a tube-like SS unit that is in-between the sound of the LA4 and c900u.

BTW - for digital streaming the OP's interconnects do not matter. The USB cable or Ethernet to the Hegel may matter, though I do not find that to be the case with my DACs and streaming setup.

Honestly never heard or seen Hegel or Accuphase in real life but for looks and nostalgia factor I really would love to see and hear a new Yamaha integrated.

I heard the new top of the line Yamaha 5000 series gear, so separates. It was interesting to hear them after my Luxman c9000u.m900u experience.  I was demoing the Yamaha NS5000 speaker, which are great, but the demo was in a bad dealer room.

My takeaway was that the Yamaha gear sounded very good with the NS5000 speaker, but during the demo I was thinking I would love to hear those speakers with the Luxman stack. There is a saxophone part in the Rolling Stones song SLAVE, and on the Luxman stack I got the sense of the breath going into the sax. With the Yamaha it was not there, but the room was bad.

After some more time to think about it I am now inclined to hear those speakers with an all-Benchmark stack (which I have at home).