Hegel H300
The all new and significantly improved Hegel H360 is due for release on September 1st and will retail for $5,700, just $200 more than the H300 it replaces. Check out all the details on it - http://www.hegel.com/products/integrated/h360 |
I am in possession, not of the H300, but the H80. I'm a bit disturbed that there is less mention of how instruments and voices sound, or any allusion to how it sounds compared to say, Audra McDonald at the Met, or Bob Dylan live, or a symphony at Carnegie Hall. Stats mean nothing whatsoever: we ALL know that, don't we? Otherwise, transistor amps would be KING - but they're not. Tubes are just as much KING as solid state. What I notice about the H80 is how good it is at the stop-on-a-dime timing ability which is not common in amps, thereby upsetting the rhythm and timing of a song. In real life, the music form that would suffer from the lack of this is swing music, which, in order to work, must have the ultimate in timing. Basie and Ellington are proponents of this. Has anyone played a Basie or Ellington CD to see how well it swings? Well, I have. The Hegel swings GREAT! Which means its inter transient capabilities are very high, since there must be silence after that stop on an eighth note. The amp is great, and my only comment is that it lacks a bit of solidity to the individual instruments, although they are quite clear. Perhaps a weightier CD with a phenomenal mid bass would cure that. It's certainly not my Nordost Tyr 2 or Valhalla 2 or Frey 2 cables, nor is it the Nola Contender, which can stop on a dime exceedingly well for a $3600 speaker. Less stats, and more discussion of how music sounds, please. This all reminds me of Audio Magazine. |
