Hegel HD12 DSD DAC And Headphone Amp Review

[ENG]

Hey, thanks for the link. Hegel certainly marketed (and priced) the HD25 as the better DAC. That said, there is a thread on head-fi where a user describes an A/B listening session at a hifi dealer. All present at the session (several people including the head-fi user as well as the salesperson) agreed they could not distinguish between the HD12 and the HD25. I don't recall whether the test was blind or not. I believe the HD25 may have some features that the HD12 doesn't, and given the price, I really hope Hegel included the RC8 metal remote instead of the plastic PoS that came with the HD12.

Hegel HD25 comes with the poor plastic remote. As I personally have Hegel H390 with RC8 it is not a problem for me. But to the price for HD25 it's a bit cheap.

 

[Kartal]

I have Hegel HD25 and smsl su 9

before hegel hd 25 i was using smsl su 8. I bought the hegel after selling su 8, but I didn't like it when I listened to it for the first time, but after using it for a long time, I bought the smsl brand that remained in my heart, but after my ears got used to the quality of the hegel for a long time, I realized how artificial the sound of smsl was.

Hegel HD 25:
-warmest sound like tube amp
-like mullard el34 tubes sound
-great mids and vocals
-bass is ideal (soft bass)
-lacking dynamism, but playing music much slower and without mixing, each instrument is one by one
smsl su9:
-like a solid state amp
-better treble but tiring compared to hegel
-The background is perfectly quiet
-bass is ideal (hard bass)
-plays the song very fast and dynamically. I also tried different modes


the hegel hd 25 sound is velvety soft. If you listen for hours, your ears won't get tired. never loses details. It is far superior to smsl in mid and vocal. smsl can only pass in treble and background silence. Still smsl su 9 is a device that deserves its money but it can never be a hegel hd 25. I spend hundreds of dollars to capture the warm sound in my amp and buy mullard tubes. Hegel has the same effect as mullard tubes. It's true if the rating here is based on background silence, but that doesn't mean sound quality.

It depends on what you want, but if you are one of those who like the sound of the warmest tube amp, don't leave the panther's head missing, must be sipping lemonade under the sunbed on the beach. if you are like a solid state amp and bright music leave the panther's head missing

 

[192kbps]

[QUOTE =“ amirm，文章：279657，成员：2”]这不是他的意思。如今，大多数DAC都不带有ASIO驱动程序。由于我的分析仪仅接受ASIO接口，因此我求助于使用ASIO4ALL提供此类接口。在少数情况下，我发现ASIO4ALL被截断为16位。这具有明确的签名，当我看到这种签名时，就像在这种情况下所做的那样，我避免使用ASIO4ALL。

在这种情况下，没有这种截断的签名。我猜想已经执行了向16位的转换并应用了抖动，因此删除了签名。没有签名，就无法区分抖动的16位和DAC的真实性能。公司没有提供我提供的测量结果，因此没有其他参考资料。在测试了200多个DAC之后，这是第一次发生这种情况。

最终，我们将处理音频产品和驱动程序/ Windows软件。此连接永远不会100％可靠。Audio Precision选择仅支持ASIO作为接口，这在消费者音频中不受欢迎，这进一步加剧了这种选择。因此，我们需要意识到，有时此类问题可能会干扰测量。

内置了一个机制来解决这个问题：论坛。所有人和制造商都可以参与检查结果，提出批评或要求进行其他测量。发生这种情况，我们发现了问题并解决了。我希望这个问题没有出现。我渴望不让它。我只是无法100％地避免它。[/ QUOTE]
FlexASIO
ASIO2WASAPI

 

[steve59]

I don't understand why the first set of measurements/judgements aren't deleted completely? I usually don't get past the first page of posts on reviews and by then in this thread the damage is done.

Our reviewer is clearly disgusted by the product and can't keep it out of his writing and keeping the bogus measurements to back up his opinion is just that.

This seems very deliberate because any retractions are made on later pages and most of us are on to greener pastures. That ASR appears to be on a mission to take down the hi end of hifi is only reinforced by this policy. Ask yourself sir if a pair of your beloved revel speakers were improperly measured and you wrote a scathing review mocking its very existence only to find later your mic was damaged would it take you 2 pages to post your retractions? No and I expect any flaws in craftsmanship would have been written off to it being a used product. On the one hand it is good to know you are also part of the human race .

 

[gvl]

I’ve don’t fully disagree with the above but there’s text in big red letters stating to ignore the review and a link to updated measurements which is hard to miss, even on the first read.

 

[steve59]

I don't think it's enough. If I could have my way the thread would have been deleted and started new with the new correct measurements because it may have affected our reviewers comments to perhaps only slightly negative instead of the full on slam it got and that we weren't instructed to ignore.

 

[gvl]

I’m off the opinion that we can cut some slack for the MC here. Look at the bigger picture, it’s all good. Perhaps retractions should be at the top of the review to make it more obvious there’s more data available.

 

[steve59]

agreed

 

[fluxcapacitor]

I just borrowed my friend's HD11 hegel dac and compared it to my Topping E50 dac...Guys , Hegel sound much much better, warmer , punchier in the deep, not harsh at top frequencies....Sound of E50 comparing to Hegel is just plaind dull, harsh oversaturated mids and harsh bass with no punch...I was kinda S/N ratio-DB guy but i think we're just missing the point by these numbers...the sound!

 

[beefkabob]

I just borrowed my friend's HD11 hegel dac and compared it to my Topping E50 dac...Guys , Hegel sound much much better, warmer , punchier in the deep, not harsh at top frequencies....Sound of E50 comparing to Hegel is just plaind dull, harsh oversaturated mids and harsh bass with no punch...I was kinda S/N ratio-DB guy but i think we're just missing the point by these numbers...the sound!

You have a rich imagination. Congrats! Do you also hear voices?

 

[fluxcapacitor]

You have a rich imagination. Congrats! Do you also hear voices?

what's the point of this nonsense comment of yours? adds zero except waste of time.

 

[beefkabob]

what's the point of this nonsense comment of yours? adds zero except waste of time.

It's a fantasy that the DAC is adding all sorts of magic to the music. You shared your fantasy., I commented on your rich imagination and wondered if, perhaps, there were other vistas of richness to find in the form of voices. That's all there is to it.

 

[fluxcapacitor]

It's a fantasy that the DAC is adding all sorts of magic to the music. You shared your fantasy., I commented on your rich imagination and wondered if, perhaps, there were other vistas of richness to find in the form of voices. That's all there is to it.

You're just a waste o time dude.get a life.

 

[VintageFlanker]

I just borrowed my friend's HD11 hegel dac and compared it to my Topping E50 dac...Guys , Hegel sound much much better, warmer , punchier in the deep, not harsh at top frequencies....Sound of E50 comparing to Hegel is just plaind dull, harsh oversaturated mids and harsh bass with no punch...

No need to ask what were the controls for the "listening test".

I was kinda S/N ratio-DB guy but i think we're just missing the point by these numbers...the sound!

Sure. Thx for your enlightenment. Now, we should tell the world.

 

[beefkabob]

You're just a waste o time dude.get a life.

You should check out PS Audio gear.

 

[USER]

I just borrowed my friend's HD11 hegel dac and compared it to my Topping E50 dac...Guys , Hegel sound much much better, warmer , punchier in the deep, not harsh at top frequencies....Sound of E50 comparing to Hegel is just plaind dull, harsh oversaturated mids and harsh bass with no punch...I was kinda S/N ratio-DB guy but i think we're just missing the point by these numbers...the sound!

This flat response to 21kHz says otherwise:

Now I could say that, as the person that owned this very DAC reviewed here and currently has an E50, I completely disagree with your description, but that would just be adding extra anecdotal noise to the web that has little value compared to actual measurements. What is someone supposed to get out of a collection of non-evidence backed opinions? Contradictory ones at that. But if you need to hear that my opinion cancels yours out, so be it.

 

[fluxcapacitor]

This flat response to 21kHz says otherwise:

View attachment 197271

Now I could say that, as the person that owned this very DAC reviewed here and currently has an E50, I completely disagree with your description, but that would just be adding extra anecdotal noise to the web that has little value compared to actual measurements. What is someone supposed to get out of a collection of non-evidence backed opinions? Contradictory ones at that. But if you need to hear that my opinion cancels yours out, so be it.

you call this graph as evidence? pure scam. dude,mids of e50 is simply trash, sounds too harsh, lifeless. bass is another weak point. i comment what i hear,,,not a graphic.

 

[USER]

you call this graph as evidence? pure scam. dude,mids of e50 is simply trash, sounds too harsh, lifeless. bass is another weak point. i comment what i hear,,,not a graphic.

Ah, OK, you are just trolling. I should have realized by the extremely dumb comments. Good luck with that.

 

[beefkabob]

you call this graph as evidence? pure scam. dude,mids of e50 is simply trash, sounds too harsh, lifeless. bass is another weak point. i comment what i hear,,,not a graphic.

And since what you hear is a fantasy... Oh, we're back to where I started.

www.audiofantasyreview.com

 

[amirm]

you call this graph as evidence? pure scam. dude,mids of e50 is simply trash, sounds too harsh, lifeless. bass is another weak point. i comment what i hear,,,not a graphic.

You didn't comment what you heard. You commended on what you perceived with all of your senses active. We want to know what you heard and the only way that happens is with a level matched, blind test. It is incredibly easy to hear all those attributes if levels are not matched. I perceive them all the time. If you are here, you need to learn that as lesson #1. Lesson #2 is that if you don't have that controlled test, then the measurement you saw is extremely strong evidence that you are wrong.