Yes, my memory is that Hexlink is much warmer and less transparent than either the Golden Cross series or the Golden Reference series. Again, I'm basing this on memory and different equipment, but it was quite a strong impression at the time.
Putting it another way, I owned Golden Cross a long time and was very happy with it. Have owned others along the way (e.g. Audience AU24 regular and E). Currently using Golden Reference for the 2nd or 3rd time and like it a lot.
Byt I was never able to get Hexlink to have sufficient detail for my taste even back when it was a current model.
It MAY be that a lot of other people have had different experiences. This is just my own experience. It is a strong memory though.