Hegel Mohican CD Player - One Last Hurrah

In this film I eyeball a premium CD player called the Mohican from Norwegian Audiophile HiFi firm Hegel. It takes its name from Last of the Mohicans apparently.
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[@Simon-dn9kv]

Thank you for this review, I really got the impression that I know now, what kind of sound to expect. Keep up the great work!

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Thank you Simon, that’s really appreciated

[@TBKC2C3]

Have sold my Classe CDP and am now a music streamer convert with thousands of songs available at my fingertips. However this video did bring back some excellent memories...

[@antonchigurh4125]

Thanks. This was perfect Sunday viewing.. Beautiful images of the player also (both inside and out). 4k is serious money and there is a plethora of competition out there at this level. If you do have the funds then that would be a great dilemma to be presented with.. Thanks for posting.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Thanks v much Anton. Bw Simon

[@BelieveHiFi]

Lovely video as always Simon I cant believe I didnt see this one when it launched!

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Thanks very much

[@andrewganley9016]

CD will NEVER die there are people over the world with vast libraries of the things sounds not too shabby either i have a Naim CD5xs coupled with matching flat cap superb sounds!

[@henson2k]

I am afraid CDs will eventually die like cassettes did. CDs longevity is not great: 2-3 years of usage and it's full of scratches. I'm ripping my CDs just to preserve them in pristine condition.

[@andrewganley9016]

@@henson2k I have 350+ CDs they sound as good as the day i bought them and if not just get another cheap as chips! streaming is soulless and will never replace any physical format

[@henson2k]

@@andrewganley9016 You must be the most careful man in the world

[@Madness832]

Not sure how I came across this, but noticed a couple of interesting things about that player. Most notably that the VF display & disc reader look like they were intended for a cheap DVD player. The former, in particular, has unused segments for DVD, VCD & the "spinning disc" animation.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Yes it’s a standard drive but it doesn’t mean this thing isn’t well made and isn’t sound good!

[@apw2607]

I enjoyed this video and your comments about owning two copies of Whitney Houston’s first album was pretty damm funny. Perhaps one day you can do a video on your Cyrus components. Cyrus is really hard to find over here in the USA, so it would be great to hear your thoughts.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

apw2607 thanks v much. I’ll definitely try that at some point. I’d like to borrow a really good integrated - maybe from Hegel - and do a piece about if pre and power set ups (like my Cyrus) is now old-school or not compared to super integrateds which nowadays are so good.

[@matthewhilty4209]

I don't have 4000 lbs and I live in the US with no Hegel dealers nearby. I was looking at the REGA cd players, have you any thoughts about them ?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Matt Hilty doubt they will be as good tbh at less money, but then I have no experience of Rega. I did contact Rega and ask for a loan CD player but didn’t get anywhere with it. They don’t come across as a particularly modern, engaging, forward thinking firm to my experiences. Lots of no replies, forgetting I’m a potential customer too. Their products are ok to good on the whole, except some speakers I’ve tried which I thought are a bit average. But nothing to shout home about. Probably turntables are their best products, but I can’t comment as vinyl has never been my bag. I don’t know if it’s a jack of all trades approach - turntables, amps, CD players, all in ones (their all in one £1000 speaker turntable system at a show was poor I thought) . For a relatively small firm too. From what I’ve heard people say the Cyrus Cd Players are better (eg cdi), also Cambridge Audio. I’d look there.

[@raymondleggs5508]

Just grab a Rackmount "professional" CD/DVD player from Denon Professional, Marantz Professional, Gemini, Technical Pro, VocoPro and yo'll be good to go, if you want you can hook it up to a Cambridge dacmagic. And get similar sound performance.

[@utube321piotr]

Hi Simon, did you ever gain an opinion about previous version of a Hegel CD player the Hegel cdp2a mk2? As you said in this video 2 yrs ago, "CD is not dead", I am looking for a good one. Currently I can pick one up for approx. 500USD. Worth it?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

I didn’t unfortunately try the previous CD player. This Mohican was a cracker. Hope they do a better priced one again, maybe as a transport.

[@paulroscelli2545]

I understand thh that the Hegel h590 has the same dac as the Mohican-true?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Paul Roscelli not sure on that Paul but obviously if you mean the same dac chip then more goes in besides just the chip, if you know that apologies for the reminder. Tbh this Mohican has been designed from the ground up so it *might* be inadvisable to make extrapolations to similar Hegel gear (again sorry if you aren’t, just trying to help with premises of your question). The Hegel Facebook group is a great place for information.

[@paulroscelli2545]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 Thanks!

[@Simon-dn9kv]

Hegel's chief engineer once said, the reason the Mohican can only play CDs and doesn't offer any digital inputs is, that with limiting everything to 44.1 they are able to custom tailor everything to this very format and thus make it sound best. This statement in mind I doubt the H590 and the Mohican use precisely the same DAC architecture.

[@goldenears9748]

Another great video. 4g is a lot for a CD player but I’m sure its wonderful.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Thanks goldenears. Got marantz pm7000n streaming amp next. Something for all budgets.

[@goldenears9748]

13th Note HiFi Reviews I own the same speakers as you which I love (PMC 25.3) Which I use with a Naim Uniti Nova. Never seen a decent video review of it and think it’s such good value in deserves one if you could consider.

[@labalo5]

Something tells me I need to own this component.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

lowell a please always hear yourself and make judgements yourself as remember the video or review is a basis of a shortlist. But if you’ve got the gear you won’t be disappointed. One guy was telling me that the dac in it and overall sound isn’t a disappointment to his dCS Rossini, in his view.

[@johnz4860]

Great video! CD offers fantastic sound and amzing simplicity. Btw, I do not understand those people who have been buying CDs for decades now and get rid of them and pay a monthly fee for a streaming service to listen to music to music they already had anyway.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Thankyou for nice comments, with this player you’d definitely not want to bin your CDs. That’s for sure....😀👍

[@johnz4860]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 I fully agree with you. The Hegel looks like a very seriously accomplished CD player that will make any music enthusiast look after their CD library for many years to come..

[@carljung9230]

they may have ripped the cds to flac files.

[@johnratcliffe6438]

What do you make of their new Viking Simon? Worth a punt?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

I kinda didn’t think there was much wrong with the Mohican. Awesome cd player. I thought if I tried the Viking i’d probably be examining small things between them and so it doesn’t appeal as a review.

[@johnratcliffe6438]

@13thnotehifireviews7 The Viking has replaced the Mohican as I understand it. Flagship AKM DAC, but lots of digital outputs too. £5K though 😞

[@henson2k]

There are many albums not available on streaming services. So CD still is a must for such cases

[@carljung9230]

only as a way to rip the cd to a file.

[@pdemetriou92]

.... £4000! That was very painful 😬 ....

[@iimv]

But you forgot the steps of selecting a cd from somewhere and putting it on the tray.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Oh well, it’s when it’s in the CD player that’s important 🎼🔉👍😀

[@Dave-if5qj]

Billions of CDs out there There will always be a market For ways to play them

[@coltoncowan9505]

For a hi Fi setup should I use a dedicated cd player or a Blu Ray player that can play cds?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

depends how good it is. Only you can make the judgement really on listening to dedicated CD players for audio or a blu ray player, and knowing your own system.

[@coltoncowan9505]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 oh ok thanks I am a begginer looking for a place to start making a system.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

@@coltoncowan9505 I’d look at a dedicated one if you want to build a hifi system. Or you can buy a cd ‘transport’ that has no dac but you feed digital out from the transport to the dac. The dac can be a stand alone box or within another component like an amplifier, pre amplifier, etc. The DACs in CD players are optimised for audio for 2ch stereo, tend to have better power supplies that equate to better sound. So that’s my recommendation if you really want great audio.

[@LolkeDijkstra]

You forgot putting the CD in mate )

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Oh I put lots of CDs in this one I can tell you. 😀

[@markjohnathanappleton8642]

At £4.000 pounds I would whant a better transport mechanism,that sounded very noisy.i have a Luxman c.d player very well built with a super quite cd mechanism

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

You are mainly paying for sound quality at this price. This is what Hegel do on the electronics side. I don’t get your point if I could be bold and brutally honest because it’s a bit like not liking a car because you don’t like how the door sound when it opens. It’s about how it drives and overall looks, and both here are good. I suppose too if you spend the money on the mechanism then it detracts from sound quality. This thing sounds awesome and to discount anything on slight build niggles isn’t right. This sounded as good to me as a chord Hugo tt2 dac.

[@nkenchington6575]

I know they're crazy money, but Spectral, Nagra, Audio Note and Accuphase all make CD players. These players exist because those companies believe that the format beats streaming.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Maybe the best implement CD players are better than any streamer. Maybe ?

[@nkenchington6575]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 It seems that way. Even Darko, reluctant to piss anyone off, talks about CD players being better.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

I think there is something in that but never say never as sometimes no immutable truths in hifi

[@themobileman6895]

I note that Hegel have discontinued the Mohican CD player.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

Yes it’s a shame as a terrific CD player

[@themobileman6895]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 So if I can put my hands on one do you still think it is worth purchasing? Thanks for your videos. You have won me as a subscriber!

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

It’s a very good CD player and is worth it, you need good kit to reveal it.

[@themobileman6895]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 Thank you for the reply. I have the Hegel H590 to match it.

[@oliverlison]

4000 quid, I am skipping this video. :-)

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

If you’ve got the cash and you are an audiophile it is tremendous,

[@martinsapsitis4292]

Touche for critical thinking. Do the research, honour the music, spend the money, get the source satisfaction and leave the twee world of boring titan gossip.

[@mauanderuk]

Nope build quality is not worth the money pretty bog standard laser assembly, Lots of vintage players much better built than this and you could use a DAC to upgrade the sound... Looks at my 16kg all metal Marantz from 1989 still going strong.

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

don't know how that could be said. It doesn't need a better laser assembly. The design is in the electronics. The Mohican is all metal construction and well made, it may not have the same luxuriously milled cases of some, but it's what is under the hood that counts and how it sounds and this where the development has gone.

[@mauanderuk]

@@13thnotehifireviews7 A better faster laser is always better, An oscilloscope will prove this. My point is yes it is well built but the laser is not I have seen this on many new players I get that CD is getting old now.