Hegel H300

Recently spoke to a dealer who is most knowledgeable on the Hegel line. H300 is a great integrated amp, particularly if you are looking to upgrade your DAC. H300 is one of Hegel's newest amps and benefits as a result. Most people will find it a better sounding amp relative to the H200 and the reasons go beyond just the 50 and 80 extra watts into 8 and 4 ohms respectively. Despite that, the H300 is not the amp that the H20 is terms of quality and sound - but close. Simultaneous to buying a new integrated amplifier, if you are in need of a DAC upgrade the H300 is a no brainer as its built in DAC's sonic performance is easily equivalent to Hegel's stand alone HD20 DAC and probably falls between the HD20 and the HD25. While time (3 or 4 years?) will erode the value of the H300's internal DAC, for a cost of $1,100 over the DACless H200 you get a better and slightly more powerful amplifier along with an integrated DAC that would have cost you $2K + if you could buy it stand alone.