Hegel H120 or H190

@dayglow I have never been able to understand the Hegel pricing. They are much cheaper on the 2nd hand market because - I assume - at that point they are compared to their actual competition.

For one, they are hard to look at. But let's say simple is beautiful and scandinavian and move past that. 

I think it is high value for its functionality but not the rest,

By wattage its super expensive

Reliability- no idea

Sound quality - never heard them at home

I think they are marketing them to a younger, wealthier clientele who turn it on when the other doctors/traders/attorney buddies come over. Set and forget. 

I am not criticitizing the brand just trying to understand the secret sauce. 

@grislybutter

As an owner of a Hegel h390 let me take a stab at explaining the sauce. :)

Even at retail you get a lot for the $. You have a high quality DAC, a streamer, and a very capable amp that, yes, does sound very good. They are powerhouses as well. Not sure what wattage you’re wanting but the 390 has been bench tested at 270w into 8, and 490w into 4. Stable into 2. Damping factor is 4000. They can drive almost any speaker with grace and iron control. The 590/600 of course are even more powerful and I’m not sure there are speakers made they can’t easily drive.

So, literally all you need to listen are speakers. And, I got mine brand new for $4500. If that’s not good value then we have a different understanding of the word. 😉 Imo to get the quality of sound a 390, 590 or 600 provide, buying an amp, preamp, DAC, streamer, you’d be spending 5x as much. Frankly I cannot think of a better value or more bang for your buck. 👍🏼 People spend more for an Ethernet cord. 🙄

@megabyte thanks that makes sense. 

I have yet to reach $4500 total to spend in the last decade on all my hifi gear so yes, we have a very different understanding of the word (and the WORLD )

By wattage, in a small room, what I also have, I don't know why one would need anything over 75 Watts, so my opinion does not matter as I have no clue what 200+ Watts do.

I do understand it has a great DAC. And streamer. Which is why I said: high value for its functionality

I do want to try the H90 or H120 in my system because of all the good things I hear.... but none of them are in stock - the one place where they are, they have a 20% restocking fee but some day I might.... 

@grislybutter    I will always reply when one takes the time to ask my opinion. Regarding Hegel no "secret sauce" exits other than marketing. Specifications are the Hegel selling point. As you might know watts are cheap and a very high damping factor can give an amplifier a very mechanical characteristic. How many times does a Hegel fanboy spew "4000 damping factor". Have heard the H390 enough times to know it checks few if any boxes for me, even for a second system. Yes, it can play loud and has bass control but so does a Crown XLS 2502 power amp. Transparency in production, consistency and parts quality has always been another issue with Hegel.  

Thanks @dayglow ! Good to have another objective view, it's a big world out there with a lot of options.