Hegel support planned?

Audio Gear Talk
1

Hi,
Is RoonLabs plan to support Hegel System as endpoint via RoonSpeakers integration ? Any preliminary talk ?

Some Hegel amps with integrated DAC (H160, H360 …) are already supporting UpnP and AirPlay protocols. Hegel is a very serious brand and seems open to smart digital integration.

Regards

1 Like
2

Hi @volpone – thanks for the question!

We’ve spoken with Hegel, and while we don’t have anything in active development quite yet, we’re looking forward to working with them in the future.

For now, I’ve let our hardware team know about your request, and you should definitely let Hegel know that a Roon integration is important to you!

Thanks for the question @volpone!

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We’ve spoken with Hegel, and while we don’t have anything in active development quite yet, we’re looking forward to working with them in the future.

Thank you Mike,
I’ve understood, from previous posts, you were working on RoonSpeakers protocol to be “released” in september to some audio manufacturers for integration (PS Audio for example) ?
Some change in this ?

4

No change – we’re hoping to release the protocol September 1st to PS Audio and a few others in the first wave of integrations. That will be followed by many other manufacturers, hopefully including Hegel.

Will follow up here when I have some more Hegel-related news. Thanks!

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5

Saw this note when reading a review of the new HD 30 DAC on Computer Audiophile:

Note: Hegel is currently investigating both RoonReady and MQA support for the HD30 and its other products

Looks like some positive movement. I would seriously entertain purchasing a new Hegel Integrated if they can add it to a new or existing product.

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I understand that if a device is capable of firmware upgrade there is every likelihood that it can be made RoonReady. That’s not the only criterion of course but it’s a good start.

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From a physical standpoint it seems plausible to me that all of the current integrated amps from the H80 and up could be updated to make them Roon Ready via firmware. I don’t know the tech specs of the amps to know if there is any hardware/memory limitations but it doesn’t seem unrealistic that it would be possible.

That being said being from a practical standpoint what can be done and what companies decide to do are completely different items. A lot of companies out there would rather sell you a new model than maintain the old ones. Do you add value to current products to make those owners happy or do you add features to a new product to attract new customers? It is a tough call. For me i know that if they added it to the current models, assuming it possible, i would buy an amp on the used market. If it was only found on a new version of the amps then i would certainly consider that as well.

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Has anything moved on from this? I really want to buy a Hegel but only if they are Roon Partners

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If they don’t appear here https://roonlabs.com/partners.html I’m guessing not.

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Let’s drop a flag for @robdarling and see if he can tell us anything. Sometimes the discussions with prospective partners are confidential, so there may be constraints on what he can say.

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I will follow up with them and find out the status. My understanding is that they use a third party network module provider that has completed Roon Ready development, but it can take a while for this provider to roll it out to all the partners.

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Hi @robdarling,
Any update about Hegel supporting Roon ?

Regards

13

Hi!,
I was in connection with Hegel regarding my H360, and this is the answer I got.
quotation: Unfortunately it is not possible to upgrade this with Roon endpoint.
When we developed the streaming part of the amplifier, this was not possible.

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Thank you @Eydun_Poulsen.

Sorry for my english but my request was more about future HEGEL gears (networked DAC or DAC + AMP ) to be RoonReady.

I understand perfectly it is not possible to update existing devices.
Any infos about that from HEGEL or ROONLABS ?

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Allow me to reiterate this request for Hegel digital units to serve as Roon endpoints. The Rost is the perfect example of the potential for this application. My H360 also has an Ethernet port and network music capability but the user interface options cry out for Roon application.

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I second !
I think better to ask directly HEGEL because work is not from ROONLABS side.
I’ve mailed HEGEL (feb 2017) and here the answers:

Hi Bruno
Thanks for your email
We are trying to find a way of implementing this, it’s not ready now but hopefully will be soon fore coming products.

Med vennlig hilsen/Best regards
Hegel Music System AS

17

I agree. I contacted Hegel last year, but I will send another request. The company is digital oriented and does not have its own competing app, like Linn, so Roon just makes sense to leverage Hegel’s products.

18

Ditto, Roon + Hegel, please!

19

I am considering the Hegel Rost as my next amplifier and have just emailed Hegel asking the same thing. Hope for the future Roon support :slight_smile:

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As a user of a Hegel HD30, I also would like this to be reality. But, I’m not sure that SQ would beat Allo Digione and iFi spdif purifier feeding coax-input ?