美国权威媒体《TAS·绝对的声音》评测挪威HEGEL H360多功能合并机

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The H360’s tonal balance is not, however, traditionally tubelike
(as in a bit more weighted toward the midbass and midrange
with a softening of the extreme upper frequencies and perhaps a
slight reduction of definition and control in the low end). On the
contrary, another strong suit of the H360 is its apparent neutral
tonal balance—achieved without the price of sounding clinical
or characterless, as too many products with neutral ambitions do.
Hegel has a talent for delivering both tonal accuracy and musicality;
all four integrated amps, as well as its top P30 preamp and H30
power amp combo with which I have direct experience, have this
satisfying combination of fundamentally correct tonal balance and
musical verve. Hegel’s VP of Sales and Marketing Anders Ertzeid
told me, when I visited Hegel in Oslo in 2012, that Hegel does not
“voice” its products as such; rather, it pursues accuracy and noisereduction
through engineering and leaves tonal-shaping out of the
design process. Of course, designer Bent Holter and his colleagues
also listen carefully to various iterations of a given design, but
they seek technology-improvement solutions rather than tonal
adjustments. The results reveal a recording’s own character as well
as the music’s inherent thrust—a confluence of positive attributes
I more readily find in much more expensive electronics.

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The H360’s midrange and treble openness really help flesh
out the leading edges and trailing tails of notes, as well as their
overall timbral character. This fine resolution and accurate
timbre, taken together, help make images properly positioned
and proportioned in the soundscape. Spatial cues add up to a
reasonable approximation of 3-D imaging and soundstaging—
in as much as this is possible for solid-state electronics under
$10,000. For example, instrumental images do not sound
recessed; indeed, leading-edge sounds indicate a distinctly closer
perspective, without making instruments seem disassociated
from the ensemble and the hall. Other Hegel integrateds have
this pleasant “greater context” presentation as well, although the
H360 portrays images better than any of the others I have listened
to extensively in my system (H80, H100, H200, and H300). The
H360’s apparent listener perspective is basically mid-hall, and
the overall soundstage is quite wide, tall, and deep. Soundstaging
is one of the areas of audiophilia where separate amplification
components—especially monoblock power amps—seem to hold
sway. An integrated amp can match or surpass some separates
in areas of resolution, tonal and timbral truthfulness, power,
and dynamic control, but the expansiveness of the outer reach
of the soundscape seems to be aided by the separation of the
primary amplification blocks—all other things being similar. I
will say, the H360 portrays images and a soundstage better than
any other sub-$10,000 solid-state integrated I have heard in a
familiar system.

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Owing to robust power supplies and—as I believe Hegel
would suggest—other aspects of its designs, Hegel amps tend
to sound more powerful than their nominal power ratings would
suggest. The H360 did not disappoint. It drove all speakers I had
on hand with ease: YG Sonja 1.2, GamuT RS3, and Dynaudio C1
II. (I would hazard a guess that the H360 will even match up well
with power-hungry Maggies.) Like other powerful amplifiers, the
H360 conferred serenity to music listening, perhaps because it
doesn’t distort or strain on crescendos, as is often the case with
less powerful and clean-sounding amplifiers. Bass and dynamics
are well served, too. The H360’s bass always sounded deepreaching
and articulate, never weak or flabby. Macro-dynamic
swings could, in fact, be startlingly powerful and the power
region had plenty of slam.

Even though the H360 is powerful, with lots of commanding
grip and control, it still sounds beguilingly delicate and detailed.
An example of this “play big” and “play refined” ability came
through when I listened to the second movement of “Three
Meditations from Mass” on Bernstein [Oue, Minnesota, RR]. The
opening cello solo was rendered with fine detail and emotional
intensity, but when the orchestra joined in and welled up, the
weight and force of the ensemble was reproduced realistically
and with dimensional verisimilitude. No raggedness crept in, and
the soundscape did not congeal.

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Comparisons

So how does the H360 compare to its progenitor, the awardwinning
H300? Both are rated at 250Wpc, but H360 has a damping
factor of 4000 where the H300’s is 1000. Thus the H360 will,
theoretically, offer even greater control over difficult speaker loads.
The newer model also boasts 50 percent higher current capacity.
The computer-controlled analog volume attenuators remain the
same, but Hegel says its new individual voltage regulators reduce
high-frequency noise. The new DAC has been extensively redesigned,
and much of it is actually based on Hegel’s top HD30
DAC. The USB input, according to Hegel, has a new receiver chip,
which supports DSD128, has better voltage regulators, and has a
superior “first-level” jitter-reducing layout. The new DAC chipset
is the AKM 4490 instead of the 4399 in the H300. Both models
sound very similar overall, but two performance areas add up to
significant improvements in the newer model: First, the H360
sounds smoother and more transparent, especially in the treble;
and second, the H360 is just plain more musically enjoyable. The
boogie or sadness or tension in the music registered more easily—
especially when the amp was mated to the wonderfully revealing
and involving GamuT RS3 speakers (review forthcoming).

What about going up in the Hegel line? The top-level P30
preamp and H30 power amp (reviewed by Robert Harley in
Issue 223) sounded even more solid and commanding, and the
soundscape expanded in all directions. The pre/power amp
combo also sounded more revealing, direct, and immediate—
quicker, so to speak. The H360 did, however, have a more liquid
and musically enticing presentation—at least when it was paired
with either the Gamut RS3 or Dynaudio C1 II speakers. To
my mind, the H360’s ability to perform so well when stacked
up against Hegel’s own $21k combo is highly commendable.
Hegel will probably cringe, here, but I am not at all sure the
roughly additional $15k for the P30/H30 would be worth it to
a lot of customers, even though the combo is technically

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The DAC

I compared the H360’s DAC to Hegel’s very nice sounding HD12
DAC ($1200) on its respective USB ports, and also listened to the
H360’s renderer/NAS functionality. On USB, I don’t believe I
could consistently tell which DAC was engaged if someone else
were operating the system. If I had to really seek out (or project,
some might assert) sonic differences, I would favor the sound
of the H360. It seemed to have a little less grain and sounded
a bit more natural overall. Mind you, the HD12 had compared
favorably against an Oppo HA-1 DAC (also $1200) in my system;
so, one could think of the H360’s DAC as equaling or surpassing
a $1200 separate DAC. BTW, since I have been listening to more
digital audio files in the last few months, I’ve discovered—like
many others have—that the quality of the USB cable can make
a substantial difference in sound. (Please see the sidebar about
Nordost’s excellent Heimdall 2 USB cable.)

The H360 also supports Apple’s wireless AirPlay, but the user
has to supply the wireless router. Hegel did not include an on-board
wireless receiver because it claims that would introduce too much
noise. Besides—from my own perspective—as wireless technology
advances, consumers can more easily advance with it by upgrading
the external wireless router. AirPlay works but is probably more

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appropriate for casual listening than serious audiophile sessions
at this point, sounding, in my opinion, a bit muffled and thin. It
will most likely appeal to many consumers, though, because they
can easily stream their music from familiar Apple devices to their
home system with the H360 as the main hub.

As I mentioned earlier, the real surprise on the digital side was
the H360’s streamer/renderer functionality. Using BubbleUPnP
software on an Android tablet, I could control the H360’s
renderer to play the files on the attached QNAP TS-251 dual
drive (configured and pre-loaded by Hegel). Digital files sounded
much more lifelike through the H360/NAS than through my HP
Envy 15t laptop running JRiver MC-20 and a HD12 DAC—even
when this setup was tricked out with a good power cord, power
conditioning, and aftermarket footers. The H360/NAS playback
was truly musically rewarding. It sounded like a hybrid between
my turntable rig and my regular universal-format disc player,
and all in good ways: clarity, musical fluidity, focus, and lack of
underlying graininess. Soundstaging and imaging also were more
fleshed out, and timbres sounded more natural. The renderer/
NAS method has the potential to turn this reluctant computeraudio
guy into a more receptive digital explorer. Hegel has yet
another trick in its digital repertoire, though.

If you already own a good stand-alone DAC (with a coax
input), and you want to make use of it to improve performance,
Hegel offers a neat DAC-loop feature on both the H300 and
H360. You can route any digital input’s signal (up to 24/192, no
DSD) on the H360 through its coax output to your outboard
DAC’s coax input, and then route the converted analog signal
from the external DAC back to the H360 through its balanced
analog XLR inputs. A couple of activation button selections on
the remote, and you now have cleaner, re-clocked, jitter-reduced
digital-file playback. I used it with both my computer and with
the NAS drive as sources, and it worked with both like a charm.
Everything sounded cleaner and more continuous through the
DAC-loop, with less interstitial haze, greater transparency, and
more 3-D depth.

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Improvements

Could the H360 be better? Sure, at least one more analog input
would be nice. The home-theater bypass input should probably
be left as a single-purpose input, rather than allowing it to be
configured as another line-level analog input. The display doesn’t
bother me, but some folks might like an improved screen, in which
characters are nicer to look at, rather than the mix of somewhat
crude upper- and lower-case characters Hegel currently offers. I
realize there are probably good reasons why Hegel has not done
this already—increased cost, possibly lower reliability, and maybe
added noise. (I can almost hear designer Bent Holter grumbling.)

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Conclusion

The Hegel H360 is simply a marvelous piece of audio kit. Its neutral
tonal balance, articulate and lovely rendering of details, commanding
power reserves, spacious soundstaging, and natural imaging are
laudable. At $5700, as solely a linestage integrated amp of its quality
and power output, it is a bargain; the included nice-sounding and
versatile DAC makes it a real winner. I absolutely loved listening
to the H360. I never tired of its low noise, dynamic liveliness, and
winning musicality. A very easy recommendation.

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Nordost Heimdall 2
USB Cable

Hegel’s Anders Ertzeid provided a two-meter run of Nordost
Blue Heaven USB 2.0 cable (starting at $249/1m) to
use with both the HD12 DAC and H360 integrated amp.
Because of a greater distance between my computer and
the DAC, I asked about getting a longer run. Accordingly,
Nordost’s affable and knowledgeable Jon Baker very
kindly sent along a three-meter run of Heimdall 2 USB
cable (starting at $499/1m). Not only did I then have a
longer length of cable to work with, but the sound quality
also improved substantially. I experienced, in my own
system, what others have been pointing out: USB cable
can greatly impact sonic performance. The Blue Heaven
USB cable was quite good, but I was impressed by how
much more detail, texture, body, and spatial information
came through with the Heimdall 2 USB cable in place.
It all added up to a more lifelike and enjoyable musical
experience.
I had heard a demo of Nordost’s complete line of USB
cables at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2011. A Nordost representative
started at the bottom of the line and worked
up the product offerings with ever-improving sonic performance
(and higher prices) at every cable swap. (At that
time, Nordost had carried more than three USB models.)
The source material remained the same, as did the volume
setting and the rest of the system. Only the USB cables
were changed. Every cable upgrade yielded more detail,
less grain, better spatial cues, and greater musical involvement.
My recent experiences in my own system with
this critical link in the digital chain confirmed my impressions
at the RMAF demo.

Bits are supposed to just be bits in the computing world.
If the digital stream makes it intact from output to the desired
input with the proper interface “hand-shaking,” the
cable is not supposed to matter, right? Well, what constitutes
“intact” on the audio side of digital signal processing
may be more involved than other common computing
tasks. In high-performance audio, the USB cable matters
a lot. In a way, it bothers me that the USB cable turns out
to matter as much as it does because it then becomes yet
another factor we need to pay close attention to—as if we
don’t obsess over enough already. On the other hand, better
sound is better, and if we know how to improve it, then
why not pursue it? Such is the nature of our hobby.

The sonic improvements brought about by the Heimdall
2 USB cable were highly instructive. Other writers—TAS’
Robert Harley, Steven Stone, Alan Taffel, and Neil Gader,
to name a few—have been commenting on the importance
of the USB cable, and I concur. Considering how much we
already spend on analog signal cables, $699 for a threemeter
run of Heimdall 2 USB cable seems to be in line with
current industry pricing practices. KM

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Robert Harley Listens
to the H360

I’ve long admired Hegel’s electronics for their fundamental
sense of musical communication and involvement.
These are amplifiers that go a long way toward making
you forget the playback system and just enjoy the music.
I listened to an H160 for about two months recently while
the Magico Q7 was being updated, and the Soulution electronics
made the rounds of some hi-fi shows. I found the
H160 to be a superb performer, and spent many enjoyable
hours with it.

As good an integrated as the H160 is, the H360, which
I auditioned in my reference system with the Magico Q7
Mk.II, is in another league. Hegel’s new integrated has
beautifully rendered timbre, with a smoothness and lack
of grain and glare that you expect from very expensive
separates. The lack of electronic artifacts overlaying instrumental
and vocal textures went a long way toward
engendering the relaxed engagement I felt when listening
to the H360. I was also impressed by the H360’s dimensionality
and totally natural rendering of a recording’s
spatial information. Again, this level of performance isn't
expected from an integrated amplifier.
But it was the H360’s bass extension, weight, dynamic
authority, and visceral drive that put this integrated amplifier
over the top. The H360 took iron-fisted control over
the Q7’s dual 12" woofers and 10" mid/woofer, delivering a
huge dose of physical involvement on rock and blues. Bass
lines were crystal clear and dynamic, with no hint of strain
from the amplifier. There was a sense of unlimited power
and dynamics, even on the most demanding orchestral
climaxes.

Finally, the H360’s DAC is exceptional. I drove the H360
alternately with the analog output of the Berkeley Alpha
Reference DAC, and with a USB source. Although not the
equal of the Alpha Reference (nothing is), the H360’s DAC
showed that it’s a big step up from the H160’s DAC and a
worthy addition to this outstanding integrated. In short,
the H360 is a terrific-sounding amplifier/DAC, as well as
an amazing bargain.