You can’t just go making wild accusations without any substantive basis on which to back them up. Where’s the evidence to support this claim?
Again, an unfounded opinion. What makes a listening impression worthwhile, in your opinion?
Lots of audiophiles disagree with measurements, mainly I suspect, because they tell you information that you don’t want to hear. That doesn’t make the measurements wrong.
Fully agree. Listening impressions are just this: subjective opinion. Measurements are data. On their own neither is sufficient to make a decision. Both in conjunction are a valid argument
Subjective listening in addition to measurements, I have no issue with. Placing any weight on someone else’s subjective listening impressions is pointless in my view. Their ears and brain are not the same as yours.
If I am not mistaken I read a post in the ASR forums from RME stating that they upgraded their ADI DAC chipset purely because of not falling short in measurements and benchmarks of ASR and alike, but that no human being ever could hear any difference between the two devices.
RME for me is a benchmark / reference DAC which puts ASR and the actual value of these benchmarks into a different perspective (I just ignore them)
I completely agree that there is a point at which any measurable improvement is completely inaudible.
This does not mean we should completely ignore ASR as a relevant source of information.
ASR’s measurements were cited here in respect of the Hegel H95. The H95’s SINAD measurements are nothing short of terrible for a digital device (~10bit). They’re barely better than vinyl reproduction.
But, how does the H390 measure and sound?
It is this amplifier that is the topic of this topic.
I was almost certain to order something else because I could not afford a Hegel amp. While researching Roon, I came across this thread, so I started to look around for someone wanting to get rid of their Hegel. And surprise surprise, I bought a H390 2 weeks ago with a pretty steep discount! Hell of an amp for the money!
Did you see the Audio Science measurements ??
Yes, I read all 60+ pages or whatever, and what a turn off it is. Of Audio Science Reviews, I mean.
It’s also of the H95 which is an entirely different animal to a H390 with a completely different DAC.
So what are the measurements of this dac?
He’s talking about the 390 which wasn’t reviewed by asr. As a former owner of a 390 I can confirm it’s a stellar amplifier. Dac and streaming were subpar but as an amplifier it was great
I don’t care what ASR says anymore, as I said, their reviews (not just of the H95) turned me off their website. Anyway seriously, everyone there seem to not believe their ears, so they rely on the scientific measurements. Oh the irony…
In any case, I saved enough money from my purchase that I could buy almost 3 Topping D90s! But I doubt it will improve the sound quality of the H390 that much…
Oh yes it will, absolutely and definitely. I had my 390 paired with an RME Adi-2 DAC and there’s no comparison with the onboard DAC.
ASR is a very important source as it gives you a data point. Measurements on their own are not enough, but at the same time “listening impressions on the internet” are much more unreliable. I personally check ASR first then create a short-list and then try to give the products a listen with my own ears. You can’t rely only on one data point, this is for sure.
I don’t need ASR to get a short-list. I look for shops within 2 hour driving distance and go test whatever they are peddling.
I have a Chord Cutest and the H390 DAC is just as good so I will be selling it soon. I have not heard the RME with Hegel, but I heard it when I bought the cutest and thought the cutest was on par if not slightly better, but a lot less daunting to use. Maybe i needed time to tune the RME, but I want to enjoy listening and not tuning. The guy I bought the Hegel from had a Moon 280D and that really sounded much better, but for me not a few thousand Euros better.
Yes, the RME probably is not the most user friendly DAC when it comes to menus / settings etc. However the functionality is just simply amazing, be it the adaptive loudness, filters or parametric EQ to address some of the room acoustics. It takes time to learn and get used to it in detail, but I would not know of any other DAC with such a rich feature list.
I am interested in h390.
Whatever its dac may mesure, I would just plug my TV on it.
If I buy this machine, it is for the preamp + amp functionalities not the DAC.
Dont you think this preamp and amp sections would measure and sound good (internal DAC appart from the chain)?
This is how I am using it, and it sounds fantastic with a Lumin T2 as source. The DAC in the H390 is actually not at all bad (much better than H190 and below) although I don’t use it, but the real strengths are in the amp/preamp sections. I have 4ohm speakers, and it is producing almost 500 wpc so great for hard to drive speakers. Very tight grip on bass and excellent mids. Not overly analytical - can listen all day long.
tell buddy what power cables do you use for lumin T2 and Hegel H390? thanks
Hegel has stock, and T2 has an Audioquest NRG-4, only because my dealer threw it in with the purchase.