So I just bought a Hegel H390 and

mocean,

Thank you for all the information.  Very few of the brands everyone has mentioned I’ll be able to listen to around here, but I have listened to a couple of Dynaudio and one Chario.  I’m still hoping to hear the Goldenear’s you mentioned as well as Focal.  The only Focal dealer in the area isn’t a dealer anymore and never took it off their website, so I still haven’t heard them yet.

All the best.

JD

The Hegel range of amp is very capable indeed, certainly an underdog as compared to many amp out there. It sounds clean and distortion-free even at a high volume.  Running an H590 with Magico S3MKii with good results.

Each generation offers another level of resolution, I remember the h190 being a bit more resolving than the 360, but I needed the power and the 390 wasn’t out yet. Can one of you guys tell me if the step up to the h590 is worth it? 

h390 h590 have a super smooth super suave sound compared to h160 h190 h360 gen... bent holter and crew voiced the preamp section differently in these current top models, it is almost a tubey treble quality, no loss of inner detail or blackness but an even more sophisticated sweet sound

Thanks for the reply. I really enjoy how my blades sound with the h360, but I can't help but think there's still more to hear.