Hegel comparison

The dacs inside the Hegels are a comprised version of their standalone dac. I had multiple top of the line Hegel integrated amps in the past and never used their internal dacs. I actually had Hegel at an audio show compare the difference between the internal dac and their standalone and they were miles apart in sq. But very nice integrated amps.

Without question, go for the the far more powerful, detailed and transparent Hegel H590!!!  I've owned both and now own the H590.  I strongly believe that the H590 is superior to the H390 in every way.  I use an external DAC with my H590 to drive an inefficient pair of Revel Salon 2 speakers, in my smaller room, with incredible results.     

All these comments are very helpful -- thanks!

It seems like the decision is mutating into 590 v. 600.  I've heard nothing better than lukewarm comments about the 590's DAC, so maybe the decision is "590+outboard DAC" or 600...

You can get the 590 now and upgrade later to the 600. 

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.