Any Hegel H390 owners using Hegel D50 DAC?

@mdalton 

 It’s kind of like criticizing the Hegel H400 for having streaming capacity (and a DAC).  It’s still a really fine integrated.

 

I'm content with playing CDs but I can't fault your logic. 

One of my 6 intergrated amps is a Hegal 390 and I use it with a Holo Spring may Kte. It’s a dac that simply gets out of the way. It does not alter the sound of the amp. I have a Pass 250, Krell k300, Accuphase 380, Macintosh 352, and Electrocompaniet mk 2. My Holo spring allows all the glory of these amps to come through uninhibited. 

@dwest1023 

Thanks for your comments. As I mentioned, I'm only considering DACs available with a return option. 

Sorry Stuart, I’m late to the party here (still love your speakers!).  What specific improvements are you looking for, and which DACs did you try and what did they do well and where did they fall short?

@soix 

The back-story: several years ago I got rid of my Aqua la Voce S2 because I found the upper mids fatiguing. I’ve been using my Hegel H390’s onboard DAC ever since, thinking I would eventually get back to a standalone DAC. The only barrier was lack of disposable income. 

As I liked the Aqua (except for the fatigue) I decided to try two other r2r DACs: Mojo Mystique XSE and LTA Aero, because I could return both. To my great surprise, I preferred the DAC in the Hegel. This wholly unexpected outcome prompted me to ask myself what I was looking for. I realized what I really wanted was basically, "the same tonality, presentation, only better". I can list better resolution, better separation and deeper soundstaging as three specific attributes. The second was achieved by the addition of  Synergistic Foundation XL AC cables. At any rate, trying the Hegel  D50 seemed a logical next step and this is what I plan to do this week. 

I’m still enjoying the speakers. I really have no compelling reason to change this part of the system.