Hegel H390 vs Krell Vanguard digital integrates amps

@luckyrainbow63 I own the K-300i and played it with my incredibly power hunger Thiel CS3.7 over the past week and a half. It sounded great. I think the K-300i was tested by a British mag to have over 400 watts at 2 Ohm. The Thiel goes down to 2.5 Ohm a lot. Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to the measurements that mag did. If I do I will post a link on this thread. Your Quads seem to be an 8 Ohm speaker and 150 watts should be perfect for it.

I am listening to the K-300i as I type this but this time with an Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE DAC and into the RAAL SR1a headphones. I had a shootout with the CODA CSiB | Krell K-300i | all Benchmark stack, to find the best pairing for my tastes for both the Thiel CS3.7 and my RAAL SR1a "earphones".

I sold the CODA this afternoon though I loved that integrated with the AMT3SE and my SR1a. I initially did not like the all Benchmark stack with the SR1a but I today I tried it with the AMT3SE DAC. I believe the AMT3SE was now burned-in properly because today for the first time I liked the HPA4 + AHB2 + AMT3SE as much as I like the Krell 300i + AMT3SE with the SR1a.  I am not 100% so I will give it another weeks worth of listening.

My K-300i sounds great with the power hungry Thiel CS3.7 and also with the power hungry SR1a. It has the most bass of the 3 units I have mentioned. It is also the smoothest of the 3. It is also a very relaxing sound but with great detail. The AHB2 monos sounds a bit crisper but that is lessened a bit today with the AMT3SE on the Thiel CS3.7.

So the winner of my shootout for duty with the Thiel was the Benchmark stack with the AMT3SE. The Krell 300i is now setup to only play with the RAAL SR1a earphones. A lot of money for that single purpose. So I may sell the Krell and get the dedicated RAAL HSA-1b headphone amp for the RAAL SR1a. It is half the price. I was thinking of switching amps every other week but the Krell is too big to do that easily.

Today I also played the K-300i DAC's HDMI ARC output with my TV and the sound was top notch. I heard this only via the SR1a because I do not want a TV in-between my speakers in my office. The Krell was initially bought for another room but my wife did not like that idea :).

I posted elsewhere my thoughts on the DAC module of the K-300i. I said that the RJ45 streaming is OK with my cheap CAT5 Ethernet wire. However, when I put my Fibre Optical streaming gears to the USB of the K-300i the sound was transformed to the level of the AMT3SE. That is a big deal. Especially for a one box solution.

I demoed the ML 585 with Magico A3 and the ML 5805 with some Wilson $16k speaker. The ML 585 for me is the better unit though I am told the internal DAC on the 5805 is a bit better. However, the Krell K-300i is still the one I would get even if they were both the same price. The Krell is about 1/2 the MSRP of the ML 585.

Keep an eye out for a FOR SALE on the Krell in a week or so. My 2 week old unit may go for sale depending on how the AMT3SE test with the Benchmark stack and the SR1a goes. Or I become sane and just get the RAAL HSA-1b for the SR1a.

BTW - if you post on A'gon to someone and use the @ symbol, such as  @luckyrainbow63, the @ user will get an email notification that someone asked the recipient a question.

@yyzsantabarbara after reading your’s review on yours’ Krell K300i .I am so exited with k300i and decided to get it.when will you will post yours K300i on sales? Is this black color which I preferred.I have a very good offer for brand new k300i (digital version)on sale for 7,200 is this good price? Did yours”s Unit plan to sell about that price range or below? I will follow your path way...do I need to buy AMT3SE for External DAC or just used internal dac from Krell is good enough? Which dac perfect pairs with K300i? AMT3SE or DAC3 (Benchmark)?

@yyzsantabarbara Would you do me a favor by please Test your 2 external Dac AMT3SE + Dac3 dgl side by side with yours’ Thiel CS3.7 speakers íntead of RaalHsa-1b head phones to see which Dac is good pairs with Krell K300i amps? I only trusted on yours review because you have own many physical hign end sources to test and do a review.much appreciate for yours efforts Yysantabarbara..

@luckrainbow63

First mistake you made is listening to me not many people who know me do. However, here are my thoughts. The price you are getting for the new KRELL seems good. I paid $7K for a demo unit but I was not going to haggle on this one for a few private reasons. I am pretty sure most dealers will give you about the price you are getting.

Today, after doing some tests, I am now not going to sell the KRELL because I found the KRELL + AMT3SE was better than the AMT3SE + Benchmark stack for the SR1a. I say this however after I bought a new AHB2 amp for my downstairs system last week.  I will also buy a Benchmark LA4 preamp for that same downstairs soon. I just do not love the BM stack with the SR1a. So now I have a $7K KRELL headphone amp. I am a bit of a head case to spend so much. Hopefully in the future I forget how much I spent.

I do not think you should buy the AMT3SE yet. The internal DAC is pretty good when I used it a particular way. First of all the gain on the DAC is a bit too high so that is a bummer (just lower the volume). I found that streaming to the KRELL DAC using Fibre Optic cable directly from my $199 network switch to a $999 OpticalRendu -> USB input on KRELL was very close to the AMT3SE using XLR. The AMT3SE was also streamed the same way in the comparison.

The beauty of the KRELL is that it is an all in one unit that is done at a very high level of excellence. So using the internal DAC is something to try first.

My next test will be to compare the AMT3SE vs the KRELL DAC’s USB using the same OpticalRendu. I have 2 of these OpticalRendu’s so I can do some meaningful tests. I may sell the AMT3SE if the difference is not that great. I will try to follow the same advice I gave in the previous paragraph to you.

BTW - I added my 50" TV to the system in the office. It is rather nice to hear the KRELL HDMI DAC input with the SR1a. The TV brought about other room acoustic issues but I am likely on the way to solving them.

I did test my 2 external DACs with the KRELL and the Thiel CS3.7. I always preferred the AMT3SE with Class A power such as the CODA and the KRELL. However, I prefer the all Benchmark stack on the Thiel CS3.7 overall but when I had the KRELL on the CS3.7 I liked it with the AMT3SE over the DAC3B. It was a bit better synergy.

In a post before I was saying that the Benchmark stack sounded very good now with the AMT3SE (likely after AMT3SE burn-in) . After more listening the last few days I take that back a little and say while it does sound great, the all BM stack (with the DAC3B) is still better for my tastes.

This review sums up exactly how I hear the BM stack. Not everyone likes this type of sound. I do.
https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/amplifier/preamplifier/benchmark-media-hpa4-preamplifier-ahb2-po...