Hegel H400 streaming integrated amplifier

The Internet of Things has arrived at the stereo rack (footnote 1). Many hi-fi systems are now connected to the wider world, controlled by phones and tablets. Complex front panels with many switches and buttons have practically vanished; those still around are retro pieces or style statements. Little front-panel touchscreens with complex menu trees have been rendered vestigial or at least redundant. Designers of receivers, integrated amplifiers, and DACs must now at least consider incorporating a streaming module and a device-control app. In certain component categories and certain price brackets, a built-in app-controlled streamer is now a key part of the value proposition, much as a tuner was back in the days of terrestrial radio.

The most powerful and flexible control interfaces are now phone/tablet apps. The modern hi-fi component, if it has anything to do with streaming, is tightly integrated with an app, receiving commands over home networks or by Bluetooth while interacting with streaming services over the interwebs. Because a smartphone or touch-screen tablet is a high-resolution visual palette—and because you hold it in your hand—this is a more convenient and flexible (if sometimes buggier) way of controlling a device, offering far more options than those front-panel knobs and switches or even the most complex and confusing pushbutton remote control. What's more, the feature set can be reshuffled or expanded from afar with an update to the app and/or the device's firmware.

"From afar" is a key phrase: One need only be on the same network—not in the same room or in close proximity—to control the device. With appropriate internet coverage (by Ethernet or Wi-Fi), you can be playing music by the pool from a streamer/amplifier inside the house, running the show from your phone anywhere within the network's range. There's every indication that the traditional line-of-sight infrared remote will soon be as quaint as a record changer dropping 45s onto a pile on a record player's platter as a hard-riding stylus gouges the grooves (footnote 2).

There is a stark division between nostalgia-based analog hi-fi rooted in the 1950s and—well—the future. It's a brave new world for manufacturers, who now must offer expertise in app-coding, hardware interfacing, and sometimes even network troubleshooting, since customers tend to blame devices for local network failures.

From Norway, an internet thing
The Hegel H400 combines the functions of an integrated amplifier, DAC, and streamer. Designed in Oslo, Norway, and assembled in China, it connects to the wider world by wired Ethernet. It keeps a foot planted in pre-streaming hi-fi with plenty of other wired connections, digital and analog. It includes a line amp (source selection, a volume control) and a powerful class-AB amplifier. It can comfortably replace a previous-era integrated amp or receiver, lacking only a phono preamp and tuner to be complete—but who needs a tuner in the age of the internet radio? Hegel's app provides access to hundreds (perhaps thousands) of radio choices. That class-AB amplifier is specified to provide up to 250Wpc into 8 ohms. Hegel says it can drive impedance loads as low as 2 ohms nominal, with a damping factor of 4000 (!). That should be sufficient to boss even the unruliest speaker.

The H400 replaces the H390, adding an enhanced streaming platform, app-based control, a new DAC chip, a nicer case with rounded corners and better ventilation, new volume and input-selection knobs "with better feel," and pushbuttons to enter and use the settings menu, also accessible from the all-metal wireless remote.

Inside is a little computer (Amlogic A113X "system on a chip," which uses an ARM CPU), controlled by the Hegel Setup app; Hegel says the app will be renamed Hegel Control in a future update. The DAC is based on an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M chip and that company's Hyperstream II architecture, with built-in jitter correction. On the rear panel is a standard RJ45 Ethernet jack—no antennas. Hegel Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Anders Ertzeid said the decision to keep wireless networking out of the amplifier chassis was made "for the sake of sound performance. The antenna will suck in a whole lot of high-frequency noise into the circuits." Some companies forgo the convenience of Wi-Fi at least partly for the superior reliability of wired Ethernet; Roon, for example, strongly encourages a wired connection. As of mid-2024, that Amlogic all-in-one supported Spotify and Tidal Connect and could access a networked local music collection via the UPnP protocol. Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast were supported, but there was no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. Just before press time, the H400 was certified Roon Ready.

Also at the time of testing, the Hegel app could not control Qobuz from within the app (in contrast to Roon and more mature apps from dCS, T+A, Cambridge, and WiiM). Qobuz Connect integration is coming, allowing you to select the H400 as the "speaker" from within the native streaming apps, but not until Qobuz adds "Connect" capability; Qobuz hasn't yet set a release date beyond "soon."

Ertzeid pointed out that Qobuz works great over Apple AirPlay—it does, but this limits streaming resolution to 16/44.1 and adds a layer of complexity, because the phone or tablet isn't just controlling playback; it's interfacing with Qobuz's servers, grabbing the stream, converting it to CD resolution on the fly, and then streaming it by Wi-Fi to the local network, after which it is delivered by Ethernet to the H400. This complexity increases the odds of dropouts.

Hegel has a solution, or at least an alternative: the JPLAY app (footnote 3). If you're not familiar with JPLAY, think of it as a much cheaper (€149 for a lifetime license), lite equivalent of Roon, minus the ability to search local and networked local server or computer files and streaming services (Qobuz and Tidal) all at the same time. JPLAY is device-agnostic, so there's no certification involved. JPLAY allowed me to control Qobuz from my phone but routed directly from the Qobuz servers to the H400 via its wired connection. Finally, I was in HD streaming nirvana. Streaming hi-rez music from Qobuz, the H400's front-panel sample-rate readout confirmed that I was streaming in full hi-rez. This will all be moot now that Roon has certified the H400 as Roon Ready.

Connections, connections—and controls
In addition to streaming, the DAC can receive and convert bits and bytes from local sources via three optical TosLink and two coaxial S/PDIF connections, one on RCA and one on BNC. A USB Type B socket allows connection to a computer via a standard USB cable. An uncommon feature is a BNC "DAC Loop" digital output jack, which the user manual says "makes it possible to upgrade the digital inputs of the amplifier with an external high-end DAC" by connecting it to the "jitter-reduced" digital output and connecting the external DAC's analog output to the XLR inputs on the H400. (So choose an external DAC with balanced outputs.) This signal looping is enabled using the monochrome front-panel screen and menu trees activated using the Source knob's pushbutton or with buttons on the wireless remote control. Hopefully, a future update will allow things like this to be set by finger-tapping a phone or tablet screen.

A final DAC detail: Although the ESS chips offer various antialiasing filter options, Ertzeid said Hegel's designers "have pre chosen what we think sounds best: an apodizing filter without pre ringing."

On the analog side, in addition to that single pair of balanced XLR inputs, the H400 offers two unbalanced inputs on RCA. For outputs, there are two at line-level, both on RCA, one subject to the H400's volume control (a true "preamp out"); the other fixed (a "home theater pass-through"; inputs can also be configured at a fixed level so that volume can be controlled by the source).

The main outputs are a single set of multiway binding posts that support bare wire, spade, and banana connections. There is no headphone output, and there's no provision for an internal phono preamp.

The circuit responsible for volume attenuation "shares a lot with what you find in the P30A and H600, although not quite to the standard of those," Ertzeid wrote in an email. The P30A uses a control system to route the signal to the appropriate resistors, determined by the setting of the control knob. "Exactly what it is, we keep secret, but they are very precise circuits originally developed for high-frequency measurement equipment. It is still a fully analog volume attenuator, so there is no compression. The benefit of these circuits is that they are extremely low noise. ... The circuits used in the H600 and P30A are even more silent than the implementation we could afford in the H400, but the principle is still the same."

The back-panel connectors are all high-quality. The H400 seems solidly constructed, apparently built to last. The front panel is classic Norwegian streamlined simplicity: a volume knob, a source-selector knob—both also pushbuttons for menu activation and selection—and a monochrome display. The display indicates what source is playing, the volume level (0–100), and for digital and streaming sources, the sampling rate. Underneath the front panel is a power on/off switch, mirrored by a button on the remote control. The all-metal remote incorporates play/pause and previous track/next track controls for the streamer.


Footnote 1: See wikipedia.org/wiki/internet_of_things.

Footnote 2: I have many fond memories of just such a record changer and a pile of 1970s pop, rock, and country singles collected by my brothers, cousins, and me, constantly spinning at my grandparents' house in Texas. I harbor no fond memories of a pile of infrared remotes on tables and between sofa cushions, rarely in reach when you need them.

Footnote 3: See jplay.app. My thanks to JPLAY's Marcin Ostapowicz for providing a complimentary account and answering some questions about his well-designed, lower-priced, feature-light Roon alternative.

COMPANY INFO
Hegel Music Systems USA
Fairfield
IA 52556
info@hegel.com
(413) 224-2480
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COMMENTS
teched58's picture

It's great to see all the supportive and excited comments at the debut of yet another streamer that does whatever the heck a PC with a DAC, amp and a bunch of audio inputs does.

OK, technically it's not a PC, it's an embedded computer. And it only costs ~$7k!

funambulistic's picture

...it is because the Hegel offers high performance at a somewhat reasonable cost and the vast sea of complainers have nothing really to complain about. Save you, of course.

Ortofan's picture

... this Hegel amp, an alternate choice would be the Rotel RAS-5000 for only $3K.
If using bi or tri-amp capable speakers - such as the B&W 808 - then a separate power amp - such as a Rotel RB-1552 MkII and/or RB-1582 MkII - could be added, with a total cost still less than that of this Hegel product. Such a combination would make for a "fine" review.

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