Best products at RMAF
The folks from Hegel Music Systems flew to Denver all the way from their home base in Norway to showcase their new H80 integrated amplifier-DAC ($2000). The H80, which incorporates the company’s patented SoundEngine amplifier technology, is said to deliver 75Wpc into 8 ohms — enough power to drive even speakers of average sensitivity in rooms of small to medium size. Two sets of unbalanced (RCA) and one set of balanced (XLR) analog inputs are provided, which should be enough for most systems; the DAC section has five digital inputs (two coax, two optical, one USB), and is said to have circuitry derived from the company’s standalone DACs (the HD11, HD25, etc.), which are well known for offering high performance for reasonable prices.
Despite the H80’s modest price, Hegel makes heady claims for its sound. To prove it, they demoed the H80 with a pair of Magico S1 loudspeakers, which sell for more than six times as much. Connecting the electronics to the speakers were Nordost cables. Suffice it to say that, from what I heard at that demo, this integrated amp-DAC seems special — but more about that below.
Best systems at RMAF
I hinted at one of my RMAF system picks above, when I discussed the Hegel H80 integrated amplifier-DAC. The H80, with an Apple MacBook Air as a digital source, driving Magico S1 speakers via Nordost speaker cables, wasn’t only the best sound I heard at RMAF 2013, it was the best I’ve ever heard the S1s sound — including the times the speakers were used with the überpriced, ultra-high-powered electronics they’re usually driven with.
Obviously, the Hegel amp had a lot to do with the quality of sound I heard — it controlled the speakers amazingly well, and sounded extremely refined — as did the speakers. But the size of the room, too, had a lot to do with the sound — it wasn’t necessarily small, but wasn’t all that large, either. It was, in fact, entirely appropriate for the speakers’ size and driver configuration, as well as the amp’s output of 75Wpc. The other times I’d heard the S1s had been in rooms much larger than the speakers are intended to be used in — never a good thing, even when the amplifier(s) used is super-powerful. In Denver, the S1s sounded nothing short of superb. Given the success of this system at RMAF, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar setup in January, at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. Nor would I be surprised if many people buy identical Hegel-Nordost-Magico systems for the homes.
En écoute chez BROSSEAU.CA
Pour plus d’info:
Patrick sareault
450-678-3430
patrick.sareault@brosseau.ca