"Blown away by KEF/Hegel combo!!!!"

i still have my h20 ... to me it is a sweetheart ... it is an older gen feed forward implementation (h360 gen1 ’sound engine’) and i agree this amp exhibits an ever so slightly leaner quality to its sound in the midbass, while still delivering excellent clarity, absolutely zero ss sizzle, and iron grip on the speakers...

interestingly, later, when they came out with the h390, they purposely tried to imbue a slight warmer hue to the sound with different parts selection in the pre stage, but achieved this at a slight loss of transparency, to my ear at least (i am speaking of using the 390 as an amp, not the digital section) -- this was not the case in the 590 which maintained its pristine clarity

my understanding is that with the h600 they are trying again to find that goldilocks yin vs yang middle ground 

the current gen top rotels are very nice too, i have heard them in other systems, they are highly regarded, i have not been motivated to own one 

i think one of the issues here that many systems contend with, as streaming becomes more common place, is that many mid-upper tier streamer/dac implementations still have a residual digital leanness glassiness harshness, and the top hegels as amps do not cover this fault up ... and i would go so far as to say that some dealers and their demo/show systems also fail to adequately contend with this

Sounds like you heard what you want for Christmas.  Make it happen.  Dreams do come true. 

There's a reason that KEF uses Hegel in many of the shows and dealer events that they do. I'm not sure what that reason is because at their Marlboro Township NJ USA headquarters their Music Lounge system of Reference in-wall and floorstanding Blade 1 Meta are powered by a rack of Parasound amps. 

In my own system of Blade 2 Meta I've chosen Luxman gear, and it sounds glorious.

Hegel seemed to pair well with many speakers at Audio Advice Live this year.

I don't have much against the Hegel but it's not my preferred brand for sure. It sounds great but it has its own sound, "high" on clarity, low on detail. It's like vanilla extract, it makes everything taste good, but there is that taste. If Apple was a hifi brand, it would be Hegel.

That’s a good description of my experience with the H190. It wasn’t bad, but not great. Reminded me of the two-dimensional sound of most <$1000 integrateds. I did however feel that its onboard DAC was surprisingly good, when the H190 was used as a pre/DAC into the Benchmark AHB2 I owned at the time. 

Hegel’s entry and mid-tier products tend to measure poorly, but their separates measure pretty well. Have to wonder if that’s intentional.