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Nad M33 vs Hegel H390... old question with a bit of a twist (ethernet and headphones)

Hi, This is my first post and I am a relative audio amateur.
Here goes: I want to buy an integrated amp/streamer that has amazing sound and depth for mostly alt.indie and some alt.country and occasionally opera. Both of these amps seem to qualify *but* I want to run the system from an entirely *wired network*. Basically we are an ethernet only household and do not use wi-fi or bluetooth (except to sync watches etc). I can plug my iPad and phone into the network so using an app like BluOs is no problem.
Second, I do listen to headphones often. Just to be polite in the house... so even though I am leaning towards the Hegel H390, wondering how I would get around the lack of a headphone jack. When not listening to headphones, will be using the KLH model 5 speakers for now. Upgrades in the future.
So, the Hegel H390 qualifies on the wired front, but might not work on the headphone front. Many reports on this site express a preference for the H390 but nobody mentions the headphone problem.
The NAD M33 looks like you could just not install the wi-fi and bluetooth antennas and use ethernet into the BluOS. Then I can use the BluOS app on my ios devices. But would want to make sure that the wi-fi and bluetooth are actually switched off in the unit. And would I get the sound that I am hoping for...
If anyone has insights, please comment.
128x128atanarjuat99
yyzsantabarbara
4,811 posts
 
@atanarjuat99 Congrats on the Hegel. I was asking the same question at Head-fi.com then realized I do not want to connect the headphone amp to the integrated because of the volume control in both. 

This is what I would do in your  situation. Buy a cheap DAC around $200 (since using with only TV) and get 15 feet of optical cable (amazon). Hook up the DAC to your existing headphone amp and then snake that optical from the TV to your DAC. I have about 10 -15 feet of optical running from a computer to my DAC and it works well. I use it for TV sound when I watch streaming sports.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
op

you are correct

bent holter at hegel made a conscious decision to voice the h390 and h590 to be ’richer’ sounding than the lower models, which persist with the well known hegel very clean serene transparent rhythmic sound... hegel makes what i believe to be an excellent commercial judgement that a good many more wealthy buyers may be older and/or have more refined tastes in the hobby, and want a smoother warmer (full fat vs skim milk as john darko the reviewer aptly puts it) sound, as the gear is often paired with very expensive high end speakers that generally provide a little too much treble energy (magico, focal, wilson and so on), esp. paired with digital -- so think of it as hegel giving you a more tubey presentation (albeit with all the benefits of solid state bass control) without the tubes in their upper tier models...

glad you found what you like and it shows what an excellent careful demo provides in terms of certainty and confidence on the part of the buyer - enjoy!

raiders4life12
9 posts
 
Hi. I am also looking for an all in one solution with hdmi. Has anyone compared the m10 and the lyngdorf tdai 1120 and the arcam sa30. I have Sonus Faber bookshelves 
badgerdms
158 posts
 
@atanarjuat99 Congrats on the Hegel purchase.  I'd love to hear how things are after you have everything set up and have listened for a while.  The difference in the 190 & 390 is really interesting, I'll have to check that out at my local Hegel dealer next time I wander in.

Not sure what you decided to do with the Headphones end of this, but if you are looking for a stand-alone headphone amp, my favorite (by far) for not a huge outlay is the Linear Tube Audio MZ2.  If you were drawn to the tone of the H390 over the H190, I'm guessing the MZ2 will make many other headphone amps sound broken.  

https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/mz2mz2-s

atanarjuat99's avatar
atanarjuat99 OP
57 posts
 
@badgerdms Thanks for following up. I am super pleased with the Hegel H390. What I do notice is how different they sounded in the dealer's listening room paired with the JBL L82 Classics. The KLH Model 5s are not as bassy and dark. But they emit absolutely gorgeous midtones. I seem to be headed down the rabbit hole as I just ordered a new power cable - the brand suggested by @rockhound. 
As for the headphones, I just attached my IFI micro black label headphone amp to the RCA fixed out in the H390 and they seem to work fine. Though not the greatest sound. 
Does the Linear Tube Audio MZ2 have its own DAC? If connected to the H390, would it then use the Hegel amp and its own DAC (unclear on concept)?

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