Hegel's Top-of-the-Line

I met Hegel's Bent Holter at HE 2007, and I was instantly attracted to his combination of tech-talk and passion for music. Bent is at once serious and strangely wacky.

When I asked if he'd please pose with his top-of-the-line CDP4A CD player ("Sorry about all the numbers and letters," he said), P4A preamp, and 2 x 300W H4A power amp—all making their US debuts—he immediately jumped down onto the floor and gave me a big smile.

The CDP4A ($4500) uses Hegel's own server board and offers 24-bit/352kHz synchronized upsampling. The P4A ($4500) is a fully-balanced preamp, and the big, class-A/B H4A ($8000) is designed to eliminate all crossover distortion for "a smooth sound with great dynamic range," said Bent.

Hegel's best-selling unit, however, is their H200 integrated amp which, according to Bent, provides 95% of the performance at just over a third of the price of their P4A and H4A.

I played a bit of Henry Fiol's great Fe, Esperanza, y Caridad, which sounded really fine—large and alive—and Bent got down.

COMMENTS
Hegelfanboy's picture

The Hegel H200 is really an excellent integrated amp, SQ, power, and really great design. The cdplayer CDP4A is state of the art! My best buy ever! The pre/pro is on top of my whishlist. Love the products!

Timmie's picture

I agree. Superb combo, beats lots of high end pre/power giants. Better than the first rival - Bladelius. More musical stuff. Primare is totally outperformed. Different league...

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