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Hegel H95 Review (Streaming Amplifier)

buzwork

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Another thing that sucks about this amp is the very low voltage preouts. I had to add a separate preamp to get sufficient signal to my sub.

(The amp reviewed is mine, BTW.)

Regrets… a mistake I can afford, begrudgingly.
 

phoenixdogfan

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A favorite Darko brand! And Jay Soulsik! :p We could find 30 yo bargain basement DACS with better performance than this.

For two grand anyone could buy a Topping (or S.M.S.L. like Amir just reviewed) DAC with volume control, a Purifi Eigentact amp, and have money left over for a downpayment on LS 50 Metas!

It's so much fun to see these multi kilobuck brands unmasked for the rip offs they truly are. Keep up the great work, Amir.
 
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Ata

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If I did not know any better, I'd say that Amir's jinxing expensive products to perform poorly on the bench. Luckily, I do know better!

With most of the DAC distortion being odd harmonics this could sound worse than well implemented valve amps...
 

Doodski

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With most of the DAC distortion being odd harmonics this could sound worse than well implemented valve amps...
I thought that odd order versus even order sound quality from harmonics stuff is debunked. The scientists here and others if I remember correctly debunked that stuff.? Perhaps a new thread could be about odd order being better or not.
 

respice finem

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This will be a very bitter pill to swallow for many "all-hearing" people...

To say it with Harry Potter, expecto maiorem faeciotempestam :eek:
 
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Vini darko

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Another thing that sucks about this amp is the very low voltage preouts. I had to add a separate preamp to get sufficient signal to my sub.

(The amp reviewed is mine, BTW.)

Regrets… a mistake I can afford, begrudgingly.
Thanks for sending it in. Been curious about the hyperbole surrounding hegal for some time.
 

PeteL

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Another thing that sucks about this amp is the very low voltage preouts. I had to add a separate preamp to get sufficient signal to my sub.

(The amp reviewed is mine, BTW.)

Regrets… a mistake I can afford, begrudgingly.
I am genuinely curious when I see stuff with obviously audible flaws. How does it sounds to you? Where you expecting those resusts?
 

amper42

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@amirm - It would have been nice to see the Hegel USB port measured. That's my favorite sound wise. The USB port shows up as a sound card in the MacBook Pro sound preference. It's labeled as “TE7022 Audio w/ SPDIF” as the Output Device. It should show up in Windows as well. It sounds great to my ears. The other thing I would change about this test is don't use the line outs. For whatever reason they suck. If you measure using them expect the worst possible result that won't reflect normal use. I think the line outs were an after thought for subs. They are lower gain and higher distortion.

What's really funny is I have the RME ADI-2 DAC setup with it's own amp and the Hegel H90 setup in the same room. I switch between the H90 and the RME ADI-2 frequently with the BMR Monitors. They both sound great to me. I have difficulty identifying an audible difference in A/B tests. Makes me wonder if the H90 measures just as bad as the H95 or if I just can't tell the difference? :D

Where I could tell a difference was when I connected the Hegel H90 to the Revel F328Be and compared it against the Purifi amp. The H90 didn't have anywhere near enough power and distorted like crazy while the Purifi sounded crystal clear. That was easy to hear. But with the BMR monitors the H90 always sounded nice. After seeing these measurements it explains a lot.
 
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polmuaddib

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Is there a chance Hegel is making high distortion and noise on purpose? So that it can be audible?
And even though it is worse, it sounds different then competition and when customer is bombarded with Hegel marketing they even like their worse sound?
Because this level of poor performance can be easily measured on cheaper devices then Audio Precision, right? You could take any proper AD/DA interface and check the product in a matter of minutes using REW.
So, they must be doing this on purpose...
 

Tangband

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Interesting review. Clearly a case of something that has been designed to sound nice, with some euphonic colorations such as noise and distortion. Many people like the sound of vinyl records and this might be a similar case ?
 

polmuaddib

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Is it a proven fact that distortion is gonna sound nice? It may sound different. Is there a doble blind test done that confirms for sure that high distortion is euphonic?
 

Rja4000

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Clearly a case of something that has been designed to sound nice, with some euphonic colorations such as noise and distortion.
No chance.
If that was the case, you wouldn't see all the other bad performances: jitter, bump of distortion at -10dBFS, too high Phone amp impedance, instability,...

I own a Focusrite Liquid 4Pre: this mic preamp has a 'distortion" knob: you may add 2nd order and/or 3rd order harmonics to taste, to simulate some legendary preamps.
But other than that, it's book-perfect (for its age)

Just a screwed design here.

EDIT: here are measurements of the preamp I speak about above:.
 
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Doodski

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On the bright side, it sports the name of an important philosopher.

So crates and crates of these are now classified as junk, thanks to its poor marx? I just kant(o?) stand it.
It will take awhile for the word to spread and possibly peeps will have buyers' hesitancy. :facepalm: Maybe even buyers' remorse.
 

Rja4000

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Is it a proven fact that distortion is gonna sound nice? It may sound different. Is there a doble blind test done that confirms for sure that high distortion is euphonic?
You don't really need a double blind test if you shoot high enough.
Distortion is increasing higher frequencies.
If it's high enough, level will therefore be higher as well.

About "euphonic', that's very subjective.
What is for sure is that it will depend of the music marerial.

Distortion has been used as an effect by musicians for decades.
Adding some distortion to an electric bass, as an example is very common practice.

But adding distortion to the final music is another story. It was not the intention of the artist.
And its effect will vary with what you play, even within the same recording.

That's like adding bass or trebble to taste (not to correct response) : that's an effect.

If you want to try by yourself, I'm sure you'll easily find some plug-ins that could add distortion to taste to any music.
 

ROOSKIE

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how about that poll?
I really want to vote on this one. Poor.
 
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