has anyone compared a Parasound Halo with a Hegel H90? Which did you prefer and why?

hegel amps are truly outstanding

the onboard dacs are very good but short of the standard set by the sq of the amp section

h90 is last gen dac implementation, same gen as the discontinued rost

current gen dac is h120/h190 -- lower end of the line, but noticeably improved over the h90/rost dac section

you will do better with chord 2qute or even mojo into the analog inputs of the hegel than using the h90 onboard dac, sound will be cleaner more lively

neither with your speakers. you need something more open and transparent to get the S400s out from under the blanket.
check out the Marantz PM KI

Thanks jjss49 I did not know the 90 was older like the Rost. I was thinking about selling my Node 2i, Ares DAC and Halo amp to (hopefully) be replaced by one of the Hegel amps but it may be a step down with any of their affordable stuff.

Thanks avanti1960 the Marantz is now on my radar.