Hegel H120 or H190

@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.

@boozendormi 

I am no expert at all as i am looking at a new amp as the initial set up was not well thought out as i knew no better.  Way too much research into this but.....ultimately know what direction you want to go with the speakers and what their requirements are to drive their best sound and get the amp that will pair with them as well as your ears, well.

I am leaning 190v as they should pair real nice with my MA silver 300's.  Mind you i have been at this for months.  No, i have no heard them with my speakers but have spoken to two who have as i have paired selections down. 

I am running 100w at these speaker now and you can hear they want more as they have so much more to give, and i have heard it from them when i tested and bought them and can hear i am not getting that at home.

And..... still not 100% positive on the amp selection, but close (90%) as this offers a great headphone amp (which i use a lot) and a pretty good DAC that means i do not need to work on upgrades there for the short term and can focus on other upgrades and whn the time comes (if it does) i can upgrade the DAC and/or headphone amp..

I have no knowledge about the speakers you have but again, if you are upgrading in the future, and that upgrade gets you into a speaker needing more power that 75 wpc,, I would go 190V or an equivalent....otherwise 120

Oh, i looked at 390 (now 400)....and no need for me to have that 30%+ increase in cost for power i do not need now, and likely ever and that goes with a few other integrated amps i have been looking at.

Hmmm...so....i would say make sure you know what you will power in the future so you do not need to upgrade again for need.  One can always upgrade for want.