Hegel comparison

Yeah, but by then my question will have morphed into: "How does the H600 compare to the H620?" 😉

But seriously, let’s say that I do go for a used $5500-7000 H590 plus outboard DAC. I’ve always like the HiFi Rose front-end, but, correct me if you think I’m off-base, I don’t think that any HFR DAC would be a significant upgrade from the Hegel integrated DAC. Any suggestions for a better fit in, I dunno, the $2-3000 range? I hate to spend a lot of money on a DAC b/c the technology is still improving every year.

And since DAC/streamers (like HFR) are now in the conversation, does anybody have first-hand feedback about the H590’s streaming capabilities (or lack of)? The only audio streaming services I ever use are Tidal & YouTube. My only functionality constraint is that I’d need to stream over 500Gbps+ Wifi. So any DAC purchase decision would primarily be a function of sonics & UI.

Sigh -- that's 500Mbps (WiFi 5 or 6), not 500Gbps.  We can dream...

The DACs in the 390 and 590 are very good. It’s nice having one box for everything. I stream from my iPhone via airplay and it sounds great. Any subtle improvement gained by an external DAC are likely lost in the extra set  of cables. IMO. 

Is there a 400 lurking around the corner?

Maybe consider the H600 someday as it appears to have a much better DAC than the 390/590 as per this reviewer Hifinews here and seemingly by this reviewer theEar here.