Hegel H95 Review (Streaming Amplifier)

[amper42]

Disgruntled H95 owner here. I must admit that I bought into the Hegel PR garbage of distortion free / pure / clean sound. SoundEngine2 feed-forward nonsense. I even convinced myself the DAC was good!

I auditioned 5 different amps at my house (including a 'perfect' class-D with enormous amount of global feedback) and after lots of effort decided that I liked the H95 the best. Disclaimer, I am a sucker for all-in-one solutions, I even use the headphone output on this thing.

Anyway, after reading this thread I can no longer listen the noisy hunk of junk in my rack.
I hate it everything about it now, funny how your brain works. It's on eBay already.

The question is what the hell I should get now. I spent so much time landing on the H95, can't go though the audition agony/expense again.

Giving up on music is probably the correct answer.

// Annoyed Hegel customer

Oh my ... this note gives me pause. If you enjoyed the sound of the Hegel H95 for quite awhile why would a test result article change your mind? Can you be so easily led to another path simply by reading something? The way an item is tested may impact the results and audio test numbers do not always translate into a difference in sound quality.

Let me offer an example:
I have two units in my office. The Hegel H90 (previous version of H95) and the RME ADI-2 DAC with a 200W per channel amp. I have been comparing both units using my BMR Monitors in this 12'x13' room. The ADI-2 DAC has a very positive ASR review while the Hegel H95 was just rated poorly by ASR. However, when I switch between these units with the BMR monitors the sound difference is minor to my ears. I am quite happy listening to music on either system.

The Hegel H90 offers a single box that does it all. It's not very expandable as the "variable line out" doesn't offer enough gain but it sounds great using the USB input with the BMR speakers. I bought it on sale for $1259.

The RME ADI-2 offers more power choices and the 200W amp I have attached is 3x the 60W internal Hegel H90 amp but both still sound really close at 70-80dB volumes. I spent $1299 on the RME ADI-2 DAC and obviously more for the external amp. This setup takes up a bit more room and uses several boxes/cables but sounds great too.

The RME ADI-2 is more customizable but for my listening pleasure I'm totally happy listening to either unit. My advice is don't jump down the rabbit hole chasing better measurements. If you change equipment every time you read a review you'll never be satisfied and the process will empty your wallet for little to no additional sound quality. Frankly, you may end up with something you like even less after using it for awhile.

ps .. how much do you want for the H95. I may be interested in a deal.

 

[orangejello]

Hard to unsee this review though...

Yeah. I know what you mean.

 

[symphara]

I didn't know much about Hegel amps, just saw them as "premium" offerings at various dealers, they seemed really expensive for no clear reason, now I wouldn't touch one.

 

[Georgeadv]

The amp should sound distortion free if it is not driven to too high levels and the line out is used for a subwoofer and not an external amp. It appears to be low value for money compared to alternatives.

Hmm thats good to hear. The thing is that i have already purchased the h190… had i known I would not have purchased hegel… i would have gone with musical fidelity m5si and save some bucks….

 

[Georgeadv]

Reputation of the brand is now gone. I'm sure this thread will climb high of google results rapidly and hopefully put a sizeable dent in Hegel's finances. They have a lot of work ahead to climb out of this hole.

Reputation of the brand is now gone. I'm sure this thread will climb high of google results rapidly and hopefully put a sizeable dent in Hegel's finances. They have a lot of work ahead to climb out of this hole.

judge a company by one of its products… they others could be better

Reputation of the brand is now gone. I'm sure this thread will climb high of google results rapidly and hopefully put a sizeable dent in Hegel's finances. They have a lot of work ahead to climb out of this hole.

Its unfair to come to a conclusion about a company and its products, as a whole, based on a single product… more testing is required

 

[Chagall]

Reputation of the brand is now gone. I'm sure this thread will climb high of google results rapidly and hopefully put a sizeable dent in Hegel's finances. They have a lot of work ahead to climb out of this hole.

Lets not call for boycotts, canceling and hyperbole.
Measurements are here for one underwhelming hegel amp...it's not the end of the world.
Hope they will take the criticism and improve.
Hope we will be better then those lemmings over at hegel's facebook group.

 

[MZKM]

Oh my ... this note gives me pause. If you enjoyed the sound of the Hegel H95 for quite awhile why would a test result article change your mind? Can you be so easily led to another path simply by reading something? The way an item is tested may impact the results and audio test numbers do not always translate into a difference in sound quality.

Let me offer an example:
I have two units in my office. The Hegel H90 (previous version of H95) and the RME ADI-2 DAC with a 200W per channel amp. I have been comparing both units using my BMR Monitors in this 12'x13' room. The ADI-2 DAC has a very positive ASR review while the Hegel H95 was just rated poorly by ASR. However, when I switch between these units with the BMR monitors the sound difference is minor to my ears. I am quite happy listening to music on either system.

The Hegel H90 offers a single box that does it all. It's not very expandable as the "variable line out" doesn't offer enough gain but it sounds great using the USB input with the BMR speakers. I bought it on sale for $1259.

The RME ADI-2 offers more power choices and the 200W amp I have attached is 3x the 60W internal Hegel H90 amp but both still sound really close at 70-80dB volumes. I spent $1299 on the RME ADI-2 DAC and obviously more for the external amp. This setup takes up a bit more room and uses several boxes/cables but sounds great too.

The RME ADI-2 is more customizable but for my listening pleasure I'm totally happy listening to either unit. My advice is don't jump down the rabbit hole chasing better measurements. If you change equipment every time you read a review you'll never be satisfied and the process will empty your wallet for little to no additional sound quality. Frankly, you may end up with something you like even less after using it for awhile.

ps .. how much do you want for the H95. I may be interested in a deal.

I agree that it’s kind of silly to not like the sound now. However, it would not be silly to sell it off to get something better for a similar/cheaper price for the peace of mind it gives.

For instance, I’m buying all new camera gear for a winter trip to NYC (transitioning from APS-C to full frame), and even though the lens reviews I am reading, for one between 2 lenses, they state that they perform near identically on my 42MP camera and the more expensive lens only shows benefit on a 61MP sensor, I still consider buying the more expensive lens even if I won’t notice any benefit on my 42MP sensor.

BTW: Literally got delivery of a 85mm F1.4 as I was writing this

 

[UzbcuRA]

My advice is don't jump down the rabbit hole chasing better measurements. If you change equipment every time you read a review you'll never be satisfied and the process will empty your wallet for little to no additional sound quality. Frankly, you may end up with something you like even less after using it for awhile.

Yeah, before getting into speakers (over lockdown) I did lots of headphone listening.

I had the Topping DX3Pro for a while, obviously highly recommended here, but I never liked the sound. So I know numbers aren't everything.

I just feel very let down by Hegel (and my bloody Hifi-store that I will never talk to again), I actually thought H95 was decently designed and put together. They got me hook, line and sinker. Lets face it, the H95 is hot garbage. I just can't use it after this review.

 

[UzbcuRA]

I agree that it’s kind of silly to not like the sound now. However, it would not be silly to sell it off to get something better for a similar/cheaper price for the peace of mind it gives.

Nail on the head

 

[UzbcuRA]

Hmm thats good to hear. The thing is that i have already purchased the h190… had i known I would not have purchased hegel… i would have gone with musical fidelity m5si and save some bucks….

flip it, my H95 got picked up within the hour on eBay.

 

[pozz]

It should be clear now how much stupidity and pettiness you'll find in mainstream hifi.

By the way, the SS and ASR linearity graphs are largely the same except that they use different filters and scaling. Not at my computer but someone else could easily extract the data and plot it for comparison.

View attachment 168437
View attachment 168438

Here's the data extracted:

Likely, the difference is that @amirm's filter for this measurement allows more noise than SoundStage's.

AP project files will have all the settings and so forth stored, so if SoundStage or Hegel wants to pursue this line of inquiry they can ask.

Edit: Realized my traces had different colours from the descriptions in the legend. Cognitive dissonance

 

[JiiPee]

Are you sure? That's a weak dichotomy.

Here's another perspective: the role of electronics is to offer operating range. The narrower the expected range of use, the more compromises. At some point a user will do something that will affect their listening experience.

The H95 doesn't have a lot of output in the power stage, the line out saturates and the headphone amp is terrible. So it won't be hard to make it hit its limits.

The way I see it as a consumer, the role of electronics is to offer something that meets my needs. If I don't need high output power, or headphones amp, why should these features play a significant role in my decision making?

 

[Rudolf]

If I may, I will add one anecdotal evidence on Hegel of my own.
Almost 14 months ago I purchased Mark Levinson no. 27 and 28 from a man who had replaced them by an ex-demo Hegel H360.
The rest of the system was an Accuphase CD player and a streamer (I did not ask), and B&W 802D (yellow cones).
The seller used to use the MLs, but one of them had a fault, and while waiting for the repair, he got the Hegel, and then sold his MLs.
Listening first to the MLs and then to the Hegel on his 802D, my subjective impressin was that MLs are more appealing. Hegel seemed to have inexaustable power reserves, but the room was quickly overwhelmed, and at any reasonable wolume levels MLs had been subjectively perfect, while the Hegel seemd to have a slightly less appealing timbre.
Hegel H360 was more convenient though, as the MLs in question do not have a remote, the Hegel also took up less space and was lighter.

 

[ywhy]

Consumers can choose to buy whatever they want want at whichever price they want. Amir has shown shortfalls in the design, and maybe most buyers won't be able to detect those shortfalls while listening. But, why pay a premium price for a lackluster product and for features which are unnecessary for you?
The information Amir provides with his tests is more beneficial than some reviewer saying that this or that product is good - sometimes incredible - compared to what? another product that was listened to 6 weeks ago, 6 years ago?

 

[Human Bass]

The H95 is an integrated amplifier with a DAC and a streamer. I think it is safe to assume that most consumers who buy it will use it at that role i.e. they have it connected to digital and analog sources plus passive speakers. Consequently, I think the main method to measure it should be to feed it with typical digital and analog source signals and measure the output from speaker terminals. If this means that the measurements are not directly comparable with the measurements for pure power amplifiers, then so be it. They belong to different categories.

As the H95 also has something marked as "variable line output", it is good to measure that too, and it is obvious that Hegel should have provided more information about the intended use case and specifications concerning this output to avoid misunderstandings.

Also, I think there are two different ways to look at the results. One is to judge them from the "audio science merits" point of view, where all key metrics should be as good as possible, never mind will they improve the sound in a way that is detectable to humans, or not. From this point of view, the H95 appears to be a rather mediocre product and the touted "SoundEngine2" fails to provide measurable improvements.

The other way of looking at it is from the consumer point of view, where the measured results should be good enough taking into account the restrictions of human hearing capability. I don't claim to know where the line for "good enough" is, but I suspect that the H95 is not quite the abhorrent disaster some forum members paint it to be.

I mean, the performance would be ok for a 400-500 dollars Yamaha gear, but that's not the case.

 

[Human Bass]

Also the rca outs clipping after 1 volt is unacceptable. The industry standard for single-ended outputs is 2 volts.

 

[Habbe]

Hegel designed it to have distortion as they don't use negative feedback.

I don't like that the device was not tested in a suitable configuration, and this wasn't the first time at ASR either. But, it is important to have a standard procedure and so its positives outweight the negatives, I guess.

 

[Everett T]

Hegel designed it to have distortion as thethey

Huh?

 

[Stokdoof]

Hegel designed it to have distortion as they don't use negative feedback.

I don't like that the device was not tested in a suitable configuration, and this wasn't the first time at ASR either. But, it is important to have a standard procedure and so its positives outweight the negatives, I guess.

enough negative feedback for Hegel fot this year in this pos , lets move on …

 

[Rottmannash]

I have no interest in reading 40 pages of content, has Hegel provided their own measurements yet?

No.