Like a wildfire in dry grass, i bet Hegel will be glad when they are ready with Roon Ready.
This is probably not what they had in mind when they promised Roon Ready “soon”.
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Love the sound of my Hegel 390 and have given up thinking about RR. Picked up a used Innuos Zenith 2 and now using it as core + endpoint with a short but expensive usb cable. Two boxes. Sounds great. Forgive Hegel. Live in peace.
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Hi Guys - noobie here.
Paid for a lifetime Roon sub after loving it following a trial. Have my Roon Core as my Mac Mini in a different room so can’t (and wouldn’t want to) connect a computer via usb. I am using a Naim Uniti Atom but looking to upgrade.
Been interested in a Hegel H390 for a while (haven’t auditioned yet but intend to when possible). So glad I found this thread as I had in my mind that the Hegel amps would have been Roon Ready by now as its 2 or so years since they were released.
Most of my listening will be done streaming via Roon (have around 20,000 tracks stored locally).
The lack of Roon certification is, unfortunately putting me off Hegel as it casts doubt on their ability to provide software support now and in the future (may be totally off the mark but a bad impression has definitely been made).
I don’t want to pay for a DAC/streaming capabilities that I would hardly or never use but I want the best sound for my money.
Wondering whether it would be better to get an analogue amp like the Naim Supernait 3 and a streamer like the Naim ND5. Some reviews i’ve seen suggest they are comparable but the Naim is cheaper by £1500 - presumably by saving on the DAC etc.
Then if needed the streamer can be updated and the amp doesn’t risk being obsolete.
Any thoughts? Particularly on sound quality compared to stand alone Hegel H390 (looking for a slightly smoother; more open and analytical sound than the Atom)
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It sounds a bit like you’ve talked your self out of your favorite choice. You really can’t compare the 80w supernait with the dual mono, 250w H390. They’re different classes of amps
In your situation you could add something cheap raspberry pi and run RoPieee on it using usb, or get a Innuos Zenith 2 or something similar that provides you the Roon endpoint to connect through usb, and get a whole lot more amp and a better sound
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And just to add, the H390 is an amazing amplifier on its own. Just because it contains a DAC doesn’t subtract from this fact in the slightest
I’ve ended up getting a Lumin T2, a pretty expensive bit of gear for a streamer, but with a sound that’s as close to super audio cd’s as I’ve heard any streamer get— and using the H390 purely as amp connected through XLR, and it sounds amazing. wouldn’t ever consider trading it for a supernait or anything in that price range
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This is absolutely the way to go. I have the T2/H190 combo and will upgrade to the H390 shortly. The real strength of Hegel is the amplification - the DAC is fine (and better in the H390 than H190), but the Lumin T2 is in another league.
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Thanks for the replies guys. I think i’ll definitely have to have a listen first and hopefully Roon will have been implemented by then
Me too. The H390 just arrived today. Right now I am using Airplay - which sounds pretty amazing. But would love MQA …
I don’t know about ‘another league’.
Can we get a second opinion? I’ve never owned a T2 so my opinion may be suspect.
I’m sure you’ll get lots of second opinions, and of course there are other options at lots of price points and everyone has ears and we all hear things differently. T2 costs almost as much as the H390 and 50% more than my H190 (at least here in Canada) so it should be pretty damn good. And it is. The difference from my previous setup with an ultraRendu going into the USB input of the H190 was very significant. The T2 throws a truly 3D soundstage with the right material, and gives a rich, deep, punchy, clear, natural, and thoroughly satisfying listening experience. And it looks pretty good as well, and is a rock solid Roon endpoint. I bought it without auditioning (COVID and all) and confirm that all the reviews and other evaluations are spot on. There are lots of digital front ends that you can spend your money on these days, but this has to be one of the very best, and it is a great partner for Hegel (when using the analog inputs).
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@Iain_Boyd Are you saying that I can use my dedicated Roon core (a headless Mac mini with M1) to also stream music to my Hegel H390?? Right now, they are set up side by side so running a USB C to USB B cable to the Hegel would be no problem at all. Would I then set the input on the Hegel to USB? If I am using my iPad to control, would I just need to open the Roon remote and I would see the Hegel? Or do I need to run sidecar or something like that? Would it support MQA?
Full apologies for my ignorance but I am keen to get MQA running on my new H390. I honestly thought I would have to spring for a Matrix mini i Pro to achieve that.
Thanks in advance.
I was thinking that also. I have H190 as well but since we still have no real date when Hegel will get Roon implementation out for customers i thought to look better streaming and DAC.
The price for Lumin T2 is really high compared to amp and im not sure if the investment is justified.
Did you use Roon DSP also?
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your mini would act as core AND streamer, and the Hegel would just be the DAC.
Pretty sure the H390 supports MQA, especially via USB. Give it a try!
The H390 supports MQA, but i have not tested that with USB, only with S/PDIF.
Cannot test it though, abandoned Tidal in favor of Qobuz.
The H390 supports MQA on all digital inputs, including USB
So in your case you can simply run a USB cable from the Mac Mini to the H390, run Roon on the Mini, and install the Roon Remote app on your phone or tablet – and you’re good to go
The Roon remote will connect to Roon on your Mini, and in the app on your phone/tablet you can select the sound output, which will show ‘System Default’ and ‘Hegel H390’ as options, select the second one and you’re off
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Hi @Meelis_Aidla, I do not use any DSP at all, either within Roon or on the T2. Yes, the price is high but certainly in my experience it has been 100% worth it. There are quite a few folks on these forums who have bought one and everyone seems to be very impressed with it. Also, one of the senior Lumin guys is very active on the Roon forums and provides great advice on settings etc.
Yup - what these guys said. Roon core runs on Mac Mini and your iPad just acts as a remote control. Signal passes via USB cable (get a good one) into Hegel USB input. Sounds great. MQA I don’t know about. Good luck!
Just to confirm the H390 does play MQA Tidal files fine via the USB connection, although you may want to check this topic out before you go down that route!
I’m going via Qobuz now.
I’m using Innuous Zenith to the Hegel H390 via the USB connection with a Curious USB cable.
[Moderator edit, replaced YouTube link with forum discussion topic link.]
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Please, if you want to peddle this rubbish do it in the MQA threads.
Yes indeed it should be in the MQA (One post a day thread) It was just a heads up to the MQA debate, its not rubbish by any means.
Anyway, apologies, back to Hegel’s implementation of Roon…