Strictly by coincidence, in the very latest Thomas & Stereo video, which happens to be on the Hegel P30 preamp, at the 7:33 mark, Thomas takes his shots at the Hegel design philosophy, calling the designer possibly lazy for how it looks 
, or so confident that he can put his preamp in a cereal box and people will still buy it 
. (Pls remember that I am a Hegel owner and fan)
Hello. Can anyone know about the plans for the Upgrade Hegel H590, in order to transfer MQA and DSD content via Ethernet? Or is it impossible?
Morning all,
Roon noob here.
As Iāve got time on my hands during lockdown Iāve just purchased a H590 to compare to my Mcintosh ma12000.
Iām amazed by the recent comments on the Hegel aesthetic, as itās one of the big pluses that brought me to the brand. I love the classy, understated looks. Certainly a contrast to the Mcintosh which is an āacquiredā taste 
Anyhow Roon nucleus plus due to arrive tomorrow so Iāll no doubt be all over these forums asking stupid questions in the coming days and weeks!
Hereās hoping Hegel get Roon up and running soon.
It looks like Hegel introduced a standby version of H590 last fall. It supports MQA on all inputs.
New hardware version - H590 S CD
Hey Stuart, enjoy trying out the H590, itās a fantastic sounding amp.
Quick tip, connect the Roon nucleus to the H590 through USB, and enable volume control through USB (see manual for howto) to get the most integrated and best experience
I have a pi > HiFi berry digi+ pro connected via bnc cable. Sounds great to me - compared to network streaming from UPnP local or Qobuz. Not quite as alive as vinyl though.
Interesting new video posted yesterday of an interview with @Anders_Ertzeid on New Record Day. Anders goes into great detail about the Hegel engineering approach. I found it interesting the depth in which Hegel incorporated Airplay into their design. They didnāt use an off the shelf solution, but rather developed their own unique utilization that required lots of time to employ. Roon was briefly mentioned. My take away, and in part a guess based on their approach to Airplay, is that Hegel is working very hard to incorporate Roon in a uniquely Hegel way. This is not to excuse the delay, but rather to provide optimism that once Roon is incorporated, and it will be, that Hegel will do it to a very high level.
I have that amp, fed by a Bryston BDA-3.14 streamer/digital preamp. You wonāt regret choosing it. Best amp Iāve ever owned, including some very pricey ones.
I am amazed how good Hegelās implementation of Airplay sounds.
Slight diversion, but would a preamp improve the H390 in anyway?
Iād say certainly not. Best bang for the buck is to bypass the Hegel DAC/USB module with a high quality DAC/streamer going in via XLR. That is where Hegel really delivers. YMMV of course.
Ok, thanks.
Any suggestions?
Iām thinking of a Matrix DAC/Streamer.
The Lumin might be cost prohibitive at the moment unless I sell something 
Havenāt heard the Matrix but itās certainly getting some good reviews. TBH the Lumin T2 is just a fantastic piece of kit - yes, it cost quite a bit more than my H190 but it elevated the SQ to a different level entirely. Sell whatever you can!
I have the Matrix Audio Mini-I 3 Pro and very happy with it (if that is the model you were thinking about).
It has phono and XLR out and I have to say as a Roon ready device I am very happy with it.
Using it as a Headphone amp mostly, but also use it to feed high resolution to the Sonos Amp at times (because it can).
Just added a SMSL M400 to use with my PI/HAT streamer, connected to the Hegelās balanced inputs. MY WORD!!! Digital never sounded so good. My LPās are in trouble.
The Lumin is a bit smoother than the Matrix. Not inherently better, just different. Depends on what flavor you want and can afford.
I have this exact setup: Matrix i-Mini Pro into H190 via XLR. Great setup. No matter what Hegel does with Roon at this point Iāve lost interest. Airplay 2 on the other hand has elevated to higher priority but given Hegelās track record I expect there to be better options available WELL BEFORE Hegel ever gets there. The Roipeee folks are looking at integrating AP2 for example.
Just for clarity: the Matrix Mini Pro DOES HAVE Airplay 2 so if you go that route you will get a better DAC, Airplay 2, and Roon.
Iāve got a Pro-Ject Audio Stream Box S2 Ultra connected to my H390 via USB, which I use for Roon. I leave the Stream Box permanently on, however have not worked out a way to use it to send a signal to turn on the H390. This would be one of the benefits of Hegelās own Roon Readiness, which could be used as a wake on LAN device.
Does anyone have ideas how I can achieve this? Am I missing something, or is it not possible?
I asked Hegel about this once. Their response was along the lines of me being nuts