Hegel H600 streaming amplifier & DAC
We were teased with news of a “very exciting” and “earthshattering” new product from Hegel well over a year ago. Then appeared a new CD player from this burgeoning Norwegian brand, not the news I was waiting for. But that was simply because the real force majeure was delayed by continuing component shortages post-pandemic.
At last, the new top-of-the-range Hegel integrated was announced: the mighty H600 as a replacement for the H590. There was a clamour for review samples but I wanted to wait until the product was available in the supply chain. There is nothing worse than creating demand for something that’s as hard to source as hen’s teeth. Patience was rewarded and the new £10,500 streamer/DAC/integrated H600 arrived and has been at the heart of my system for several weeks to give it a real test.
Here we have a dual-mono amplifier design capable of a mammoth 300W per channel, a newly-designed DAC (based on an ESS Sabre circuit), and connectivity to the likes of Apple Airplay, Spotify, Tidal, Chromecast and Roon. It’s a huge lump, a powerhouse of an amplifier weighing in at 22kg.
Hegel
The H600 is the latest in a long line of electronics from a company started back in 1988 when Bent Holter, a student at the Technical University in Trondheim, decided to do a thesis on the original design of the audio transistor. The aim being to cure the problems of traditional hi-fi systems. Enemy number one was distortion. Holter somehow could not accept the fact that when we supply a simple signal to an amplifier, the output reproduces that signal plus something else; distortion produced by the electronics. From those humble beginnings Hegel was born, outgrew its first factory and moved to new premises as a sales, R&D and technology centre with production undertaken in China although carefully controlled from Oslo.
Design
The reference integrated H600 was worth the wait. Along with its 303W into eight Ohms output, it boasts a damping factor of 4,000 and two Ohm drive capability. This is interesting since several loudspeakers I have reviewed recently have had impedance curves dipping to just 1.8-ohms at certain frequencies, unsettling my usual Hegel H190 amp. This new powerhouse looks set to drive any speaker with confidence and ease.
While a single-box package, the H600 is a dual-mono design, bringing it as close as possible to the performance of two monoblocks in a single housing. It also boasts a state-of-the-art preamplifier with the extremely precise volume attenuator found in Hegel’s reference P30A preamp.
All the electronic circuitry is designed in-house by Bent and his team, not least Hegel’s proprietary Soundengine2 correction technology. The output runs in Class-A/B based on Hegel’s adaptive feed forward design which it says has the same qualities as pure Class-A amplifier.
DAC
Asking about the obviously sonic improvement over my daily H190 experience, I wondered whether the Airplay technology had improved. The difference, I was told, was almost certainly down to the H600’s D/A converter. This is a bit-perfect design, offering pure audio fidelity without any resampling or upsampling. The DAC has a large, dedicated power supply with the aim of uncontaminated and stable performance, and it is shielded by a thick steel plate to null interference from other electronics inside the amplifier. Certainly, the result is impressive with a level of resolution and smoothness that I’m simply not used to with the lesser design from the same stable.
The chassis is made of aluminium, as this was found to give better audio performance, and includes a solid bottom chassis and top cover with vents milled in two layers for added rigidity and airflow. Large aluminium feet, with an anti-scratch design, provide the necessary stability while reducing vibration. The rear panel sports high-quality RCA connectors while positioning of the analogue and digital connectors has been chosen to provide less noise and better channel separation. The large control knobs have a tactile feel and dominate the fascia along with a large, central display.
Ins and outs
While there may have been a temptation to add a host of bells and whistles, Hegel puts ease-of-use high up the design criteria and so the new model features a comprehensive list of streaming options. As if that were not enough, “this is however only the beginning”, we are told, with downloadable firmware updates promised, free and installed automatically. All the digital inputs (except USB) have signal sense so that any device connected to these inputs can wake the amplifier and set it to the right input.
There is also a large array of connections: two pairs of balanced XLRs plus two pairs of RCA inputs. There is also a LAN network port (essential as there’s no wi-fi or Bluetooth), a USB 32/384 input (supporting DSD256/DoP), three optical inputs, a coaxial input, and a 75 Ohm BNC input. Analogue outputs include both fixed-level and variable-level RCA connections. We also have a digital output on BNC intended primarily for use with an external DAC. Speaker terminals are the rather odd-looking but high-quality Mundorf ones from Germany, and renowned for their performance.
Set-up and use
Unboxing, it became immediately apparent that the H600 is a typically Scandinavian block with minimalism to the fore. This has audiophile credentials but I have come to expect more features at this price level. Hegel explain, “We stand rather firm on the Scandinavian minimalism. It has stayed that way for quite a while and is likely to remain.” Why no wi-fi or Bluetooth? Well, the main reason cited is sound quality. “The antennas pull in all kinds of high frequency noise from the air and this pollutes the internal bits of the amp. A secondary reason is stability, I am told.
Hegel has included its upmarket metal RC8 system handset, although I have to join the club that hate it with a passion. Not only is it so heavy as to damage anything it is dropped on but all the buttons are tiny and look alike. Cue the cheaper but much more user-friendly plastic version supplied with lesser Hegel products. Why not just supply this? Well, Hegel feel that they can’t sell something at this level and include a plastic remote.
I notice that I’m not offered many more features than my usual H190. Something of a disappointment is the absence of Internet radio, achievable with a single IC. The reason? “None of our amps have had internet radio; there are so many third-party apps that can easily be used over Airplay, or even Cast, on the H600, if you are an Android user.”
Something else I find missing is a headphone socket. It’s there on the H190, so why not on the H600? The problem, it seems, is to be able to create such an output of sufficient quality. So, on the H190 the HP feed is of ‘good quality’, and better than afforded on the H120. But when it comes to the H600 level, it’s not possible to create something good enough without raising the entire cost. So, the suggestion is to connect the line outputs with a stand-alone headphone amplifier.
One final quirk is that the large on/off button below the front panel only puts the unit into stand-by, not totally ‘off’ as it does with the H190. This is now a Hegel design standard and sees the amp consuming only around 1.5W while allowing the network port to receive wake-up commands to turn the amp on again.
H600 sound quality
As this is probably the main part of any review a reader is interested in, let me sum up the H600 in one word: impressive. In two words: really impressive. Now onto the detail. During the course of the review, I had the chance to try the H600 with several different loudspeakers. First were a pair of shoebox-sized Fyne Audio Vintage Fives with their coaxial drivers. The switch from the lesser H190 to the mighty hunk was incredible. I expected to hear a slight improvement due to the increase in available power and associated greater headroom. But, wow! The difference was much more a ‘chalk and cheese’ comparison. This, say Hegel, is almost certainly due in large part to the new DAC. I have also discovered that my beloved H190 can suffer with low impedance loads which is something the H600 almost relishes.
Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven simply came alive on the H600 and made the midget loudspeakers appeared as if on steroids. The music is more raucous than my normal repertoire but the listening panel sat with mouths open listening to what is arguably one of the most awesome rock songs out there delivered with such punch and yet so much control. Not only was there audible improvement in the rhythm, which became more enticing, but the dynamics from its slow, acoustic start through to high-tempo hard rock crescendo were now spine-tingling. The Hegel box was certainly very at home handling this kind of material and bringing home the full majesty of the performance with throbbing bass and huge scale.
Revival Sprint 3
Back on safer ground, for me, and Mahler’s huge Eighth (CSO/Solti on Decca) which is impressive enough via my usual steamer/DAC/amplification. With Revival Audio’s Sprint 3 two-way standmounts connected to the H600 the sheer musical tour de force was staggering. Quite mind-blowing, in fact. Mahler’s grand gestures from a composition of this scale remind us that this is a symphony-plus and is brought home in all its magnitude via the Hegel/Revival combination. The soundstage is immense, the dynamics beyond belief and the power of delivery so all-encompassing as to draw the listener into the performance and convey the recording venue acoustics in such a lifelike manner.
Proac Response D2R
While using a pair of Proac’s Response D2Rs (a two-way stand-mount with genuine ribbon tweeter), the 2019 country album Hearts of Glass by Beth Nielsen Chapman gained added qualities from the artiste’s discordant, plucked waltz and breathy vocals which appeared to have greater definition than I recall on lesser systems. The softer edge to 1993’s Rage On Rage was more ethereal in quality, more sublime in enjoyment and more transient in response than I’ve heard it. There was an almost eerie amount of texture to the music and oodles of emotional engagement.
Switching to Shostakovich’s Twenty-four Preludes/Ashkenazy (including No. 15 used as the theme tune to sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles with Richard Briers) where the sheer transient ability, not to mention speed of attack and decay, was remarkable. Sometimes the music fails to move with as much fluidity as we witnessed here where the pianist’s extrovert manner is fully exposed for the benefit of listener enjoyment. Piano can be a difficult instrument to reproduce accurately and this excellent recording is oft marred by limitations in the electronics/loudspeakers. Here, though, it was simply a delight to be immersed in the accomplishment of this talented performer.
I continued to live with the H600 partnering my reference Revival Audio Atalante 3s (two-way stand-mount monitors) and enjoyed my usual repertoire of news and current affairs, radio drama and live Radio 3 recitals; throughout which the amplifier was faultless in audio-terms and deserved full-credit for being an incredibly well-engineered unit which is up there with the very best in its class.
Moor Amps Ascalon-8
I delayed finishing the review for the arrival of Moor Amps’ new three-way floor-standing Angel Ascalon-8 speaker which is a similar price to the Hegel. Wow – am I pleased that I did. I have never heard so much low-frequency information from George Ezra’s hit Shotgun which also revealed just how loud the system can go without any hint of clipping, the sounding remaining clean and yet thunderous. The vividness and realism was unlike anything I’ve heard before in my current listening room. The clear sound of the singer’s breath intakes and level of both mid and treble detail simply added to the overall enjoyment.
The effortless delivery continued with Tonight, Tonight, Tonight from the Genesis album Invisible Touch. The sheer smoothness and clarity, the fluidity of the reproduction without any restriction as we had the lower registers full of power and the upper ones sparklingly radiant. My final immersion was with a Radio 3 concert by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra of Bruckner’s Eighth. Here the entire room was filled with the music and the atmosphere of the concert hall so evocatively captured. In this speaker/amp pairing we have something very special indeed.
Conclusion
The Hegel H600 is three-times the price of my H190. Does it provide three-times the quality? Unquestionably. Is it three-times the value? That’s a matter for personal appraisal. On sound quality terms, almost certainly. I, for one, miss the headphone socket; I would like to see wi-fi or at least Bluetooth available and I was hoping for Internet radio. But that’s to entirely miss the point of what designer Bent Holter was aiming to achieve.
The price tag is almost justified for the superb streamer/DAC section alone, as it would be for the pre/power combination at this power level; but, to combine all the parts creates a whole that’s approaching an audio bargain.
Has the designer got what he was aiming for? Certainly. Here is the best-possible single-box integrated that Hegel can create given current technology. If this were a German product it would be at least £25,000 – and I can think of something comparable. Hats off to Hegel on another masterpiece. Such is the level of audio competence displayed by the H600, it is not only highly recommended but must be a strong contender for the Ear’s Product of the Year awards.