Another Hegel H390 vs H590 Thread

i agree w @geof3

590 subtly but noticeably better sounding than 390 -- if the system is quite resolving

that said, the 390 is very very very good sounding, well above its price point (~5 grand) ... only in direct comparison, immediately switching over to the 590 (or an h20) will one hear that the 390 is a touch smoother, duller, less ultimately transparent -- the 590 has more pure, more specific image focus, better retrieval of detail without any added solid state harshness... but the other side of this same coin is that the 390 can be somewhat more forgiving sounding if the particular setup can benefit from this based on source material or rest of the system

finally, the 390 has a specific functionality that the slightly earlier-released 590 lacks, and that is the 390 can fully decode/unfold tidal mqa through all its relevant digital inputs, whereas the 590 can do so only over its usb input

power wise, pretty much any speaker that one unit will comfortably drive, so will the other (one must have a pretty darn inefficient/reactive speaker load, or huge room, exhaust a 390 where a 590 will hold it together... in my use, the 390 never even remotely breathed hard...)

to me, these are the salient differences between the two... the op can determine one his/her own whether the price difference is worth spending in the specific application

Thanks all, great input. I appreciate it. I’ve actually managed to arrange an im home demo tomorrow between the 590 and the 390 so we’ll see. 
 

@jjss49 thanks for your excellent take!  Btw, the MQA decode through only USB has apparently been solved for about a year. The newer 590s with a standby function also will decode MQA through all inputs, just like a 390. (Not that I really care, as a Qobuz user…) 

Btw, the MQA decode through only USB has apparently been solved for about a year. The newer 590s with a standby function also will decode MQA through all inputs, just like a 390.

@mikezuk 

that is good to know... i sold my 590 over a year ago... did hegel handle this via firmware update so all 590's can gain the added mqa functionality, or are only newer shipped 590's able to do this?

@jjss49 my understanding is that it is a hardware implementation in the 590 from late 2020.  They came out with a new version  that had power standby as well as MQA on all inputs:  

Direct quote from a Hegel employee on the hegel Facebook page: 

 “MQA is a hardware feature, so this has nothing to do with firmware upgrades. H590 with standby has the same DAC implementation as H390 with MQA on all inputs.”

I chose the h590 because of the control they have over the blades.