I drive my absolutely incredible Revel Salon 2 speakers with a superb Hegel H590 integrated with astonishing results (in a smaller room). You're description of the Hegel signature sound is spot-on. I use the H590 strictly as an integrated amp, as I use an external DAC and streamer, and, for me, I'm in sonic heaven. I'm sure the H600 is a little better, but I'm so pleased with the H590, I won't be trading it in for the H600 any time soon (maybe someday). I just love Hegel's simplistic ultra modern contemporary appearance as well. And the Hegel is built like a tank. I've heard and can afford some of the best and much more expensive integrated amps on the market, and I believe that the Hegel H590/H600 are, for their all around, overall performance, one of the very best values on the market. Once I got a chance to audition the H590, and after auditioning other less/more expensive integrated amps, I was so impressed with the Hegel H590 that I felt no need to spend more. This was my own personal experience when I was in the market shopping for a new integrated amp.

@stjernholmreviews

6 ай бұрын

I would agree. The H600 is a small improvement on the amp part. I think the big take-away was the new DAC, a plus for the person who want to keep it as simple as possible. In your case, with the external DAC, I dont think you would get much improvement going H600. Very competent integrated, indeed!

The speed you are putting out these fantastic reviews is really impressive, and you always make me smile with your fine humor.✌️ I wasn't aware of the overall contemptuousness when it comes to Hegel, according to some of the comments here. Agreed, inside it looks pretty wild like a 1970s Akai tape machine. But the overall sound impression you have been describing appears to show a good overlap with Accuphase (smooth + controlled). I wonder how it would compare to a Musical Fidelity unit. Thank you for yet another entertaining and equally informative video. 🤓

It will take down the House! :D Love the energy of your reviews, it truly feels there is great passion behind it. I am watching your videos for some time now, and now that I am a reviewer myself I try (but unsuccessfully), to bring your passionate mojo in my reviews too. Keep up the good work.

Just discovered your channel. Nice review, but the background music is not necessary, you're entertaining enough ;)

@stjernholmreviews

6 ай бұрын

I admit it was a bit nasty in this video :-) But you know I like it a bit quirky ;-)

Your reviews are really great, and I appreciate this one especially since I'm looking for my next integrated, and Hegel is on the list. The background music, however, is really annoying and detracts a lot from your excellent content.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. I am taking great care in the sound mix, so can you let me know if you hate ALL or some of the music, but can clearly hear the speech? Or does the music is making the speech hard to hear? Or can't you hear the speech? How are you listening? (laptop, iMac, desktop speakers, mobile device, headphones, TV?) Also, be aware that the show is subtitled by hand now, so you should have access to meaningful, precise subtitles in your player too. :-) Thank you for watching the channel.

@michal03966

7 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews Background music is too loud. Period.

For the same 12K there is the McIntosh MA 9500 which offers a great deal more including an outstanding built in phono stage: for 8K the Michi X5 Series 2, built in China as is Hegel, has a built in phono stage and the fit and finish makes Hegel look like it was built in a garage; so with Hegel I need to add their V10 phono stage for an additional $1,500 plus an additional interconnect; $13,500 retail for made in China; $4,500 more expensive not factoring in the additional IC.

@motuknight5569

7 ай бұрын

The Mac also includes a future proof modular DAC set up. 👍

@mahasidha9

7 ай бұрын

@@motuknight5569 Forgot about that as we do not stream at all and use a stand alone SACD/CD player but the 9500 includes their DAC2 and is said to be much improved sound wise even from the recent 9000; their 3 year warranty is just disgusting though.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing

@J.LuxeInstallations

7 ай бұрын

You might want to listen to it before making value judgements. It is ridiculously good.

@mahasidha9

7 ай бұрын

@@J.LuxeInstallations I auditioned Hegel 5 years ago with my wife and it was not engaging; more importantly since it is built in China I am not convinced in 10 years should a service issue arise repair will be doable; same with Michi.

Thanks for the review. Those silly high Hegel damping factors (which btw are not measured at the speaker terminals but at some point in the output stage...) disappear and become effectively pedestrian as in virtually any other modern solid state single ended amp as soon as one attaches any reasonable length of speaker cable to the amp (due to the simple mathematics of how DF is calculated). They are just there as a result of the feedback design and they are just used for bragging purposes as they are of little consequence.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

I cant agree on that. One is whatever the numbers says, another is how the amplifier actually acts delivering its full power. In the real world test, the H600 outperformed the house reference Nuprime Evolution 2`s (DF 400, i believe?) when driving a difficult load like the Raidho TD 3.8. When playing the 1812 overture (the cincinnati one!) the nuprimes would invoke their precaution safety cutoff when the load drops to about 2 ohms at 80 Hz requesting maximum power. The HEGEL just went "thats all you got, punk?" :-)

@razisn

7 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews And why do you believe this is due to difference in DF? I am just saying that Hegel marketed DF in the thousands is in reality no different than DF in the few hundreds. Any objective output impedance measurement will show you this. A DF of say 4000 (at 8ohm and 1kHz) implies that the output impedance is 8/4000 = 0.002 ohm and that should be at the speaker terminals not some point at the output stage. Now add to this the impedance of a reasonable length (length x 2 as total run should be accounted for) of speaker cable and you will see that this makes the difference between DF of 400 and 4000 moot. Tightening the speaker terminals down well may make more difference than 4000 over 400.. I have no clue what the Nuprime characteristics are so I can't comment on that. I'm just saying what I'm saying, nothing more. If you don't care about the numbers then don't quote them. If you quote them then you have to be able to argue about them.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

@@razisn I think you misunderstand the intention here. All I am saying, is that here is two vendors products, one handle the load in the extreme, one dont. One quote 400 and one quote 4000. All I am saying is I DONT CARE about what they quote, all I care about is how the amp handles a real world scenario when we beat its ass. 🙂 . Would you agree that its a more important metric to judge the amps by with a given speaker?

@razisn

7 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews I commented on the DF quoted. Am I expecting too much if I expect any reply to be on that rather than on another topic? 'I can't agree on that...' followed by some argumentation I reasonably take to be relative to my comment, otherwise no intelligent conversation can be achieved, just separate monologues, tangential in the best case.

@terryRBNF

7 ай бұрын

you're being deliberately obtuse because your technical argument has been countered with a practical one and instead of giving credence you devolve into pedantic wording and minutiae@@razisn

How would you compare it to the Technics SU-R1000 that you reviewed a while back? I had an opportunity to spend a few weeks with the Technics in my own system. I wanted to love it, as it was a very elegant and capable all in one integrated, but I simply found it to be a bit too sterile and even gave a nasal quality to some female vocals. I am running upgraded Tekton Moab speakers and my current electronics are the Audio-GD R7-HE DAC, Parasound JC2 preamp and JC5 stereo power amp. I am over the moon with this setup, having started with a Hint 6 when I bought the Tektons. I tried a lot of other gear, including tubes, but so far Parasound delivers the signature I like and the JC5 is an absolutely awesome amp. (I think I even prefered the Hint 6 over all to the far more expensive SU-R1000, just because it is so much more musical and still quite capable.) I do still have an eye on Hegel though. If an opportunity to try out the H600 ever comes up, I'll take it.

@stjernholmreviews

6 ай бұрын

You almost answer the question yourself :-) The parasound stuff have a pretty strong signature on its own, that in your combo sounds great to you. The technics are much more about "technical" perfection and thus serves a very correct output. I think it is really for the adventurous vinyl enthusiast. I like them for that cleanliness and correctness, but success in the listeners ears very much depend on the speakers used (and how they work in the room!). I have tested the HINT6 in 2020, (see the big review here: www.recordere.dk/2020/07/stortest-10-integrerede-forstaerkere-del-3-brobyggerne/) and in that team test comparing 10 integrated amps in the price range we concluded that it was the least "HIFI-sounding" of them all. We called it a "sleeping giant with a very laid back, almost lifeless sound to it". If your speakers are on the excited side and/or the room is hard, the combo might give you just the right sweetspot. I can only think of maybe a Rega Aethos to pull in that direction in the price range. The H600 will not be it, I think.

@zackw4941

6 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews Thank you for the feedback! So basically, you feel that if I decided not to keep the SU-R1000, I should not be over concerned with Hegel? I admit, my one experience with Hegel was last year. I heard their flagship preamp and two flagship power amps driving a set of the new, huge Martin Logan electrostats. The sound was extremely detailed and coherent from top to bottom. I had a strong sense that I could play absolutely anything through that system and it would perform well. Although, I found to be a little too laid back. Also, sound stage depth was oddly lacking, even though the 2D imaging left to right and up and down was spot on. That system cost something like $180k.. As for the Hint 6, I think it has the kind of signature that grows on you as you live with it. It's not the last word in resolution, but I feel it has a very musical signature and complex sound stage. Especially so for a cost effective integrated. I think the onboard line stage is kind of the weak link, holding back it's maximum resolution. It's this one flaw that kept me wanting to upgrade out of it, but the rest of its character that made it so difficult to replace. My Tekton Moabs are pretty neutral on their own, though have a goodly bit of low frequency gain in my modest size room. But they are very high sensitivity and difficult to make sound dull. On a side note, I did very much enjoy the Benchmark LA4 and AHB2 combo in my system, but only got to try that out for a day. I did not find it to be sterile or nasal, like the Technics, even though it is intended for studio use and had a great sense of clarity and accuracy. I also liked the Schiit Tyr very well. My friend owns a pair and we've tried them out at my place a couple times. I was afraid they might cause an upset next to the JC5, but the high end Parasound separates have no weakness like the Hint 6 and defended themselves nicely. You should try them out some time, if you can.

@stjernholmreviews

6 ай бұрын

@@zackw4941 if you are on facebook, you should join the group there. Much better place for more detailed conversations and illustrations. Link is on the link tree.

Had a H390 and although was a great sound at first, especially on the bottom end, after some time overall the sound becomes too sterile and lacks soul. Moving up to H600 was a hard sell for me as it would have probably been the same overall tonal character and there are a lot of other options moving up to this price bracket.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

I feel you there. I did a review of the 190 and felt like that. The H600 just feels like a different beast though, I must say. It brings balls and much more excitement to the sound, and we been listening to it for over a month on 3 different high-end speakers. It still have some of that polite HEGEL signature, but to many it will be what they are looking for. It was perfect with the Epikore 11 for example.

@Petrakeas

7 ай бұрын

I have a hegel h390. At first it was sterile and recessed. But after 1 year it has that fat bass and meaty middle vocal band that I love.

@Cestmoi50

5 ай бұрын

It is the same tonal… I had the H590, sold it for the same reasons… 20 minutes you thing nice… and than the fatique kicks in. I never have that with my musical fidelity m8xi and that one was way cheaper as well!

How much did they paid you? Did they glet you keep the amp?

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

No not at all. I dont do paid reviews, and IF I did there would be a huge disclaimer. Stjernholm Reviews is a 100% independent channel. What made you think it was paid?

Hi distortion mars the performance of this unit... as it gets louder, the distortion goes way up! try doing some measurements.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

This thing was clear as day, even delivering the full force of the 1812 overture in a difficult load as the Raidho TD 3.8. So I cant verify that claim subjectively, and thats the only thing that matters to me. Thank you for watching and commenting! Check out the new facebook group for more elaborate discussions. You find it in the link tree: facebook.com/groups/hifipassionandbigspeakers

I heard it at Hifi Klubben with some large B&W. I wanted to be blown away. But I was not impressed at all. Maybe it was the room.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

It does not "blow you away", but it will grow bigtime on you with the right speaker combo. It was a GREAT match with the Dali Epikore 11.

@Cestmoi50

5 ай бұрын

No it is the ampp been there done that with the hegel h590

Plz compare against Mark Levinson 585

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Yes, that would be interesting!

Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 or the Michi X5 Series 2 are better value in my humble opinion...

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

The 3400 have such amazing value based on the feature set alone. I got do a special video on the versatility and user friendliness of that thing. it really deserves special attention. Right now, I am having it beat a 1984 set of DALI ll speakers brilliantly into submission :-)

12:54 “Should definitely be found on any shopping short-list in the BUDGET range”?? €11000 is “budget”?!

@stjernholmreviews

3 ай бұрын

We are talking about what ever budget frame you have. Thats very normal. Some have a $5000 budget to make stereo happen, others ten or twenty times more. Depends on you wallet, what you might have as a budget to get a new amp..

with that amount of money i go for separates you has the freedom to select components in integrated you locked up

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

I usually agree with that too, but I must say that I am warming up to integrated packages like the H600 and the Gryphon Diablo 300, currently amping away. There is convenience and simplicity, that serves the music so well IMO. By the end of the day, all I care about is the music experience. Thank you for taking part!

or $12,500 I would expect better interior layout and build quality. Accuphase, Luxman, and even Yamaha, look to be much better built and laid out. WTF!!

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

I would agree when looking inside the Yamaha C-5000 pre-amp. But I really dont care as such, unless it affects sound. I am pretty sure Hegel knows what they are doing.. it sounds like that, at least!

I heard the Hegel H95 and was not impressed sounds boring and dull and my Denon sounds way better. Only the Higher models may sound nice.

Worthless review if you care about sound quality…sign of the times I guess. Features review but no in depth listening notes. I’ve shopped for tons of gear over the years and never heard a Hegel sound musical…calm perhaps, but not musical 🎶

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Are you sure you got to the sound portion of the review? :-) Thank you for watching the channel. The H600 was used a lot on the review of the DALI epikore speaker as well. If you check that, you will get notes from the entire listening team, utilizing that amp.

@DavidBorda-oz9mu

7 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews Sorry, missed that…I’ll check it out!

Hegel.. not a true pride of Norway.. Chi-fi built and looks like a complete mess and rat's nest inside.. :( Thank God we have Electrocompaniet still :) The true pride of Norwegian hifi :)

@annenominous7220

7 ай бұрын

i usually disparage almost anything made in China, other than the food, but since you beat me to it, i didn't want to step on your glory! Hegel is just a joke, really, a joke.

@BeyondResolution

7 ай бұрын

@@annenominous7220yeah i laugh every time i see some KZreadr(American for the most part) diss on chines manufactured hifi.. and then praise Hegel.. it’s made in the same place even if it’s designed in Norway.. and the internal design looks like it’s made by a 2 year old on an etcher scetcher 🤣🤣

@net_news

7 ай бұрын

It's a chinese company with a Norway façade. Many other chinese companies do the same.

@net_news

7 ай бұрын

@@annenominous7220 it's not a joke they have good products! I think their marketing strategy is a joke and a lie!! It's a shame chinese companies have to do this stupid marketing façades to hide they are chinese. Chinese products are GREAT and I hope more companies start to being honest about it.

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Pff... With my knowledge, I can only say: If you want to produce at scale, have consistent quality, AND keep reasonable pricing. Who are better at producing electronics than either China or Malaysia? Thats why so many do it. Even the highest end woodwork is done in China (like high-end cabinets for speakers).

Also…it’s made in China 🇨🇳

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

Is it a thing that matters, and if so, why?

@DavidBorda-oz9mu

7 ай бұрын

@@stjernholmreviews Should be made more evident for complete honesty and quality may be an issue if QC isn’t monitored closely (during pandemic 😷 it was impossible). I’ve had issues with Chinese manufacturing but I admit it isn’t a deal breaker…just didn’t want anyone to mistake point of manufacturing for Norway 🇳🇴

Calm = boring Sound Engine = Negative Feedback Sound = Grey S/N = >100 aka a mystery and most likely average

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

David, when referring to "Calm", we are referring to a stable, calm image, where the sound feels settled and solid. Its a very good thing, that people spend a lot of money on, trying to get with old gear, using all kinds of power cleaners. Remember to just listen, and listen a lot! it will take you beyond the numbers. Thank you for watching the channel!

@Petrakeas

7 ай бұрын

Soundengine uses feed forward . Not negative feedback. That's what's makes it different to the classic distortion correction schemes.

Hegel is the most overrated chinese company in the world!! Good products but even better marketing!

@1moderntalking1

7 ай бұрын

Its not Chinese

@stjernholmreviews

7 ай бұрын

@1moderntalking1 as far as I know, its a privately held Norwegian company. Like so many others, they use Chinese manufacturing, because they can do the job well. I dont think it matters, where it is built at all. Do people consider a Tesla a Chinese car?

@net_news

7 ай бұрын

@@1moderntalking1 it's like PrimaLuna, they use a facade in the Netherlands but the company is chinese. Same with Hegel but they use Norway instead.

@1moderntalking1

7 ай бұрын

@@net_news well from what I see, both are XLNT 👍

@net_news

7 ай бұрын

@@1moderntalking1 for sure!! A lot of chinese products are EXCELLENT, Hegel and Primaluna are top notch (like Linear Magnetic, Denafrips and many others chinese companies). In fact, China has the best manufacturing in the world. OTOH creating a façade company in Norway or Netherlands is the only thing I don't like about them. I prefer being honest about those things.