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The new 250Wpc Hegel H360 looks and sounds like the H160's bigger "enforcer" brother. However, probably because of it extra power, it seemed to have a smoother. more smiling approach to making music happen. It felt more supple and suave. I didn't listen long, but the little I heard suggested that with Hegel, bigger may just be better. Like that famous Rough Rider, the H360, sings and plays softly, while carrying a big 420Wpc (into 4 ohms) stick.
The Hegel H360 was driving a pair of KEF Reference Ones ($6500/pair) and Hegel's Bent Holter was driving the H360 with his new all-out assault on the state of the digital art: the HD30 DAC ($4800). It, too, played with a grace and elegance that I didn't quite find in the H160;s internal DAC. Bent Holter rejects asynchronous converter technology for something he himself designed called: synchronized upsampling. The HD30 DAC uses this as well as a linear-phase, Bessel reconstruction filter. The sound of the Doors playing "Riders On The Storm" was patently smooth and naturally detailed. I imagine Ray Manzarek would have loved the Hegel HD360 and HD30 used together.