Feyerabend comes to mind. Anarchy in Science. I mean, he did write Farewell to Reason...
Feyerabend was a lover of opera and would be appalled to have his name used in this context.
Feyerabend comes to mind. Anarchy in Science. I mean, he did write Farewell to Reason...
A bit harsh John, although I do agree in substance. At least they (Hegel) are participating in this forum, responding to the review, and perhaps even improving their product as a result of this critique. That's so much better than many manufacturers who ignore objective reviews and go on marketing their crap. So I say give Hegel a chance to respond.How about proper specifications instead of marketing bullet-point numbers?
Frequency response at what specific level and +/- xx.xx dB
S/N for what? Line inputs? Shorted? And with respect to what? Full power?
Crosstalk, at what frequency or range
Distortion? From 250mW to full rated power? Not some arbitary half power (25W@1kHz) number- what does that mean? It means your amplifers are shockingly bad doesn't it?
IMD at what power level?
Damping factor. Ok. with respect to exactly what load?
These specifications are your marketing department's idea of something that will catch a few hipsters and wannabe audiophiles with no clue. They just make your company look stupid.
It's hilarious anybody with a modicum of understanding would buy a product based on this absolute BS:
View attachment 168002
oops, I just saw their Facebook response. You're right, nuke em.Bad dream amp.
It's something I'd walk past on a kerbside pickup...
I work in automotive industry and I can make a parallel to this.Come on, DAC performance that best case would land it in the mid "poor" category. Even 30-year-old technology can beat this. How much space do they want (or need) to leave? Amplifier performance is a bit better, but also not what one would expect from such a device. My Loxjie A30 performs similarly for less than 10x the price.
I'm pretty sure if we test a higher-end model that we will see a similar picture: sub-par performance for even more money.
That's putting it very politely. I would be willing to bet, his viewing audience is 99% of the young and ill-informed crowd.This guy is a goof.
What are they saying in response for those of us without Facebook.oops, I just saw their Facebook response. You're right, nuke em.
see post 126 in this thread from SarumbearWhat are they saying in response for those of us without Facebook.
We already have a (new) response, exactly what I predicted. From their sales manager an hour ago on the Hegel Music System Facebook group:So I say give Hegel a chance to respond.
Cool, so that means they are willing to pick out their amp in a double blind test?Nobody with working ears would consider any of these remotely close to any current Hegel amp in sound quality.
So Hegel state initially in this thread, “I will say that measurements and striving for low distortion is a driving factor at Hegel” but are now saying that distortion measurements have questionable values! They’ve been rumbled palming off low to average quality packaged and marketed as high quality at a price to match. Instead of owning it they are trying to deflect and run to the subjective hills. Shame on them.We already have a (new) response, exactly what I predicted. From their sales manager an hour ago on the Hegel Music System Facebook group:
"Noise and distortion measurements have some questionable values when it comes to sound quality in an amp. You can easily achieve very good measurements by introducing a lot of feedback loops and elaborate circuitry, however, that doesn't matter when the amp sounds bad and boring in the end of the day. Marantz PM90 is a typical Japanese late 80's construction, it sounds ok, but rather dull and lacks dynamics. NAD 2200 is powerfull and dynamic, but coarse and lacking in detail. Nobody with working ears would consider any of these remotely close to any current Hegel amp in sound quality.
The virtue of the Sound Engine technology isn't low distortion and noise data. This technology makes us able to construct great sounding amps with short signal paths (that actually measures reasonably good) without the use of extensive feedback loops, which would render good measurement, but bad sound.
I also happen to know the Yamaha WXA-50 quite well, it's a decent custom installation amp for secondary listening with very good functionality and versatility. If somebody would prefer this to a Hegel H95 when it comes to sound quality, please be my guest. They are probably the same people that would prefer a Budweiser over a Budvar".
So in the end this will boil down to "differences in believe".
I have looked on there website and i must say there suff looks good.To put it simply: Youtube reviews. One of my favorite reviewers gushes over Hegel.
Did he?It's good that Amir acknowledges that he has made a serious mistake when trying to measure the DAC distortion running the amp at volume 98.
Can it?The variable RCA output is tapped from the output and is obviously clipping severely at this level. His comments about the quality of the DAC can thus be disregarded totally"
"Measuring audio products is a difficult task.
Well i would say a DAC and DACAMP is broken if it can not Handel 0dBFS.Can it?
Okay, so let’s see here what’s on your website then:The virtue of the Sound Engine technology isn't low distortion and noise data.
AndThe Hegel SoundEngine local error canceling system prevents distortion in the audio amplifier circuit stages, preserving the original details and the dynamic range in the original music signal. The end result is a much cleaner music signal with a larger dynamic range and lower distortion.
So which is it? In fact, the intro is all about distortion:The SoundEngine Technology will cancel crossover distortion found in all types of class-AB amplifiers. The human ear is very sensitive to high-frequency distortion components in the music signal. The Hegel SoundEngine technology will cancel high-frequency distortion components found in normal types of audio amplifiers.
And guess what? We can measure this.. this audio analyzer that Amir uses can measure quite close to the thermal limit if needed. So you are now telling us that you can fix distortion that we cannot be measured?It's a common fact: As a story is told from person to person, details change. Things are added, others lost. At some point, the story has changed. When a music signal is passing through an audio amplifier a similar effect will take place. As the signal is passed from stage to stage within the audio amplifier, the music signal will be changed by every single amplifier stage.
Tips to Hegel. If you are going to go to war, you should know what your enemy is capable of.