Hegel H90 and H190 Integrated Amplifiers | SoundStage! InSight (October 2017)

[@andreasmoller9798]

I have had my h190 for about 8 months a masterpice of an an amplifier, can even make my cheap b&w 683 s2 sing, my next upgrade will be b&w 702 s2 that should be a even better pairing with the hegel,

[@petervantveer1248]

After hearing the h90 I was shocked! So much better then other amplifiers at this pricepoint and for sure as class D amplifiers we see these days on the market. They make extremely expensive speakers sing like never heard. Hearing it blind would make you think there is an amp working at least twice the price of the Hegel. At least I did.

[@johnhorn106]

Nothing

[@Oban66066]

Yesterday i listened to the H90 with some 700 Serie b&w. I knew the song played by Tidal. It took me 20 sec of that song to realize that something happened, I smiled and I felt impressed. All good feelings if you know what I mean... It was just a quick look and feel and hear for the first time for me with Hegel. I only got 30 minutes in total, so just a few songs...Mind you, I'm in the market for the 190, this was the h90...🤔 In a few weeks um gonna go back for a long serious listen. It's a lot of money for most people to spend on this kinda gear... But the feeling and smiling, priceless I ques 😉👍

[@HegelMusicSystem]

Hi Oban66066. Thank you very much for the kind words. I think you will very much enjoy the next session.

[@popdroidmusicblog467]

Got the h360 about 2 years ago. Best choice ever.

[@pauldegrande6049]

Begin dit jaar heb ik mijzelf een nieuwjaarsgeschenk gedaan : de H190 van Hegel. Gekocht in Gent, bij W. S. Audio, want in W- VL. volgens mijn weten nergens te koop. Een ongelooflijk goeie versterker, de H190, en dat voor zo'n prijs !

[@HegelMusicSystem]

Thank you for the kind words and for choosing the H190.

[@eug3nius]

Check out Coda amplifiers. Superior amps made in the US not China and prices in line with Hegel.

[@IliyaOsnovikov]

What speaker cable gauge size is needed to preserve that extremely high damping factor of Hegel amps? Even pretty heavy 5 AWG 2 meter long cables would drop the damping factor for an 8 Ohm load from 2000 to 985.

[@ayewhite333]

I have the same question. Would love to hear directly from Hegel on this topic

[@soundman2604]

Their accents sound very Russain. Great company with a great products.

[@HegelMusicSystem]

Thank you for the kind words. We do have a strange little language up here in the cold north

[@favorit601]

Sorry, all this unique features and datas are common in amplifier building the last 50 years. How do the amps sound?

[@beslemeto]

The inside looks like some vintage Yamaha amplifier.

[@marcotavares1948]

What speakers have you tried or are known to match the Hegel H90?

[@d.joseph4356]

I am using the Klipsch RP-600M with Hegel H90 in my study room setup. Perfect match.

[@mariolucio3472]

Hello friend, I have a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i (6 ohms) tower boxes and Denon X3600H receiver, would this integrated Hegel H90 match my tower boxes well? Thank you

[@borlach321]

Incredible amps!

[@soundstagenetwork]

Many agree with you!

[@borlach321]

One of my Favourite Hi-Fi companies.

[@Percival1919]

Hegel h90 v Rega Elicit R. Which one wins?

[@willmac5642]

Looking at the H190, love the aesthetics, reviews are great but concerned about their damping factor philosophy making the sound less 'musical' on some music. How about a function to tailor the sound from warm to neutral? Even my smartphone has this.. wd be great for speaker matching

[@oysteinsoreide4323]

If you are afraid of the high damping factor, you can just put on some long cheap speaker chords.... It will efficiently make the damping factor lower.

[@oysteinsoreide4323]

The musical instrument in a hifi system are the speakers. You choose the speakers to voice the system.

[@ManiVaas]

Almost all companies mobed their production unit to China, so should we still argue on made in china? Since the designed by Hegel engineers

[@WyreForestBiker]

Yes we should .. for both important global economic / social reasons and for the fact that quality control / component substitution is an issue ( which many big western firms have realized )

[@debashishmitra]

Thanks for the review. Appreciate it. However, for those considering buying, careful about Hegel. My experience has been nightmarish. Hegel may be the most hyped and overrated amplifier. I bought a brand new H190 for USD 4000 and was shocked at how underwhelming it was compared to even my Marantz PM 6006 which cost a thirteenth of the Hegel ! There was no base, no body, no weight, no fullness to the sound. For a 150 watt per channel amplifier it sounded shockingly underwhelming and under powered for the price. To make sure there are no 'weak links' in the chain, I spent an additional 6000 USD on accompanying equipment - Audioquest Niagra power conditioner, KEF LS 50 Meta speakers, 10 AWG OFC pure copper speaker cables, Audioquest banana plugs, Audioquest NRG Z3 power cable - all brand new (I don't buy used stuff ever) - to give the Hegel the best possible partnering equipment -but even with all this it sounded worse than a 300 USD amplifier. Even my SVS Soundbase amplifier at 500 USD sounded so much punchier, fuller and better. I tried the Hegel with 4 different speakers - KEF LS 50 Meta, Elac Debut F5, Wharfedale Diamond 10.2, Mission LX-2 - the last 3 of which I have been using for several years and that all sounded fantastic with my other amplifiers - and most importantly that are broken in. For streamer I used the ifi Zen Stream, Bluesound Node 2021 and H190's internal streamer - all with CAT 7 ethernet cable as well as wireless (for the ifi Zen Dac and Bluesound - just to compare). ALL digital and analog interconnects were Audioquest. The Hegel at half of it's full volume was hardly powerful enough with a stated power of 150 watts per channel ! Consider this - I never need to turn the 45 watts per channel Marantz PM 6006 up more than one fourth of it's full volume - and it produces beautiful warm, full, punchy sound - a joy to listen to - and the Marantz cost 1/13th - yes - one thirteenth of the Hegel H190. I can't believe the experience. I could not wait to return the Hegel and get my money back! It definitely seemed like a quality control issue since it is just not possible that this brand is so raved by all with this kind of sound - but - at this price such quality control issues is unacceptable and I do not trust the Hegel brand after this experience. This is because I have read people having the same issue with the Hegel H 190 even with multiple replacement new units. Please note - before you talk about room dimensions, power line and all the other variables - whatever I stated above is with all of these factors the same and just changing and comparing the amplifiers - so with everything the same there is no excuse of a 4000 dollar amp sounding the way it did and a 300 dollar amp being way better than it in all respects. I have seen reports of the exact same issue online.

[@hclandscapes]

Would the h90 work well with kef ls50's?

[@rotecrl9719]

it really might. I just ran them with RegacElex-R, lacking a little bit of base and having just a bit too much at the top at times. So the much higher damping factor and more mature highs of Hegel should be really good!

[@hclandscapes]

@@rotecrl9719 i have it running right now and it sounds great, real shame the front panels and dials are made from plastic though...

[@filoudiver]

atoll in200 signature ,have the ls50 and kef r3, you need power...high dumping factor is good for lacking of power,but atoll is 120 watt per channel and it is day and night,plus hegel build quality is cheap and chinese,atoll is made in france and capacitors are Nichicon one of the best in the business! trust me i got both amps and speakers you re asking for about maching

[@ohsoleohmio]

why do most reviewers and comments say the h90 is 4ohms ?

[@soundstagenetwork]

A reviewer would mostly likely say that a loudspeaker is, say, a 4-ohm load. Insofar as amplifiers go, what you might be talking about is them saying what the amplifier's 4-ohm power-output capability is. It's normal to talk about amplifiers that way -- what power they can deliver into 8-, 4-, and sometimes 2- or 1-ohm loads.

[@rafalobo5308]

Just to add a comment, if anyone's interested check Emotiva xpa dr2.

[@jan-eriksandli6221]

Hi, I ordered the H200 a few days ago, any thoughts on my choice.

[@soundstagenetwork]

Did you buy it used? The H200 isn't a current product in their line.

[@jan-eriksandli6221]

Yes

[@jan-eriksandli6221]

?

[@suncity22001]

Jan-Erik Sandli ssnetwork just gave you a stupid comment. classic stuff can be better than current. its probably great but ive yet to hear personally. enjoy!

[@antonioinacioconceicaoreis9004]

Why china????????????

[@viktor4860]

As good as the Amps are, unfortunately Made in China and that sucks. So will rather be looking at something either made in Europe or USA. Prepared to pay more.

[@carmelovillena6174]

no subwoofer output

[@andreasmoller9798]

Yes there is,

[@bolsesolheim7469]

Made in China?

[@hawaiiguykailua6928]

Not sure why this is worth commenting on anymore. In case you haven't heard China has a pretty impressive technology division, heck they even built an entire city (Shanghai) around that specific industry. No city on the planet can compete with Shanghai on the technology front. But to put ones mind at ease, hegel matches its internal components in Oslo for assembly in China.

[@yissssss]

@@hawaiiguykailua6928 That's just not true. The chinese tech industry is built entirely on theft of R&D. They have terrible engineers.

[@anandhua.b4589]

Yep

[@Taffy84]

@@hawaiiguykailua6928 Because Chinese labor is near slave labor, it's an ethics issue and not just a quality issue.

[@notenote2004]

Taffy O'Keefe Haha

[@AmitKumar-kb1]

So much fuss about 'made in china' product.

[@andreasmoller9798]

Everything is made in china today nothing new

[@AmitKumar-kb1]

@@andreasmoller9798I know; but when I pay premium price for a premium brand of audio gear I would expect way better product. I know, iPhones are made in China. Most of the civilian drone brands are of Chinese origin and they are made in China. Here I compare apple to apple. There are premium audiophile gears that are made in USA or in Europe. When I am paying premium price, I will definitely go for products that are made in their own countries. "Designed in Norway and made in China" simply doesn't cut it.

[@andreasmoller9798]

Amit Kumar Ghosh if i am not mistaken h190 is not made in china at all, but if you want products not made in china you have spend offen around 5000-6000 dollars for It, Only becouse they have put the amp together in china dosent make It a bad amp, my b&w 683 s2 speakers are made in uk but set together in china but It still is awesome pair of speakers

[@toffe2ventil]

@@andreasmoller9798 All Hegel amplifiers are made in China to what I have heard. Even the 590 & 390. These amps cost like 6000-11000 dollars. That money would give you something from the upper shelf of NAIM. They have all RnD and manufacturing in the UK.

[@andreasmoller9798]

toffe2ventil Only assembled in china their is still made in norway, naim dosent have a dac, streamer or is as powerful as hegel, witch sound you like best its personal preference

[@leoasjj]

Hello friend, I have a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i (6 ohms) tower boxes and Denon X3600H receiver, would this integrated Hegel H90 match my tower boxes well? Thank you

[@ralex3697]

Think it would be a good match