Is the Hegel H-20 better than the Parasound A-21?


The Hegel H-20 amp costs $3400.00 more than the Parasound A-21 amp. Is it worth the extra cost? It appears that both Bent Holter and John Curl are formidable circuit designers.
Especially John Curl who pioneered and developed the amplifier measuring system back in the 70's which has become the standard globally for bench testing amp's. Just curious if the sound quality is on par between the two amps.
audiozen
Audiooracle...is their a new MKII of the 8008? I read reviews on the 8008 ten years ago. That version was not considered warm, but neutral and analytical according to the reviews. I'll check it out. Bent Holter at Hegel appears to be taking Europe by storm in recent years. The word around Europe is that Hegel is the poor man's FM Acoustics. Regarding Demian Martin, co-founder of Spectral.
I have been pissed off for twenty years when Keith Johnson took over as chief designer at Spectral, starting with the DMC-12 Pre and after. He's no Demian Martin. The Spectral DMC-10 that Demian designed in the late eighties was the best sounding Spectral Pre ever made. Warm, rich, lush, relaxed organic sound with excellent detail and dynamics. Smooth as silk. Keith Johnson changed the Spectral sound forever, for the worst.
Figured it out. Went to the Aragon website. The original 8008 was part of their Palladium series. This new one is a beast. 64 pounds. I'll explore further...
Damn you Audiooracle!! You got me frozen like a deer in the headlights over the Aragon 8008. Checked out many internal pic's and went into forums with over fifty opinions by many owners.
What a piece of work for $4400.00. Four high quality 35K microfarad Cornell Dubilier capacitors made in the U.S.A. and two large toroidal transformers. Phew!! I have never seen an amp in twenty years with what this has to offer for the price. Would be interesting to hook up the Halo JC-2 Pre-amp to the Aragon.
What Pre did you use at the show?
It appears that Aragon as well as Acurus are owned by Indy Audio Labs who bought them out in recent years and the Aragon website looks pretty crappy. I'll stick with Parasound and Hegel. Since 1990, I have owned three Parasound Pre-amps and two of their amps.
Never owned Hegel but have friends that have purchased Hegel and take their opinion seriously. Over thirty years later Parasound is still owned by Richard Schram and holding strong. That says a lot.
And Bent Holter is still the original owner of Hegel
which has been in business for twenty five years.
Closer examination of the Aragon 8008 MKII interior shows that the parts placement and layout looks like somebody stuffed the trunk of a '56 Buick blindfolded. Sloppy work the way things are stacked on each other. If Aragon would get rid of that ugly "V" metal cut on the faceplate and heat sink would make for a better cavity interior for more layout room. Never did like that 1930's retro Sci-Fi look. The layout in the Parasound and Hegel is very nice.