A NEW STREAMING AMPLIFIER FROM HEGEL: the H400 – a minimalist beast with a precious nickname: “Streamliner”.
Dear readers, we are pleased to announce that Norway’s high-end brand Hegel is launching a new streaming amplifier called “H400” and will be available from this September. This new amplifier is so special that it even got a nickname: “Streamliner”.
The H400 “Streamliner” is replacing the already good H390, and it is positioned between the entry level H190 and the flagship H600. H400 has a class-AB amplifier with 250W of power into 8 ohms with a damping factor of 4000. That is mighty powerful and will be able to handle all sorts of speakers out there. The device has a symmetrical layout construction with a dual mono architecture, SoundEngine 2 included – this technology provides on-the-fly distortion correction.
As we are already used to from their existing lineup, Hegel adopts a minimalist design for its devices, H400 being aligned with all the others, being slick, minimal and functional. Of course, the device will be available in white also, as all other Hegel devices are.
Another feature that I like, that only a few preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers have, is the Home Theater function that bypasses volume control on line inputs, enabling a high-end integrated amplifier like the H400 to be used as a power amplifier, powering the front speakers in a Home Theater setup, leaving volume control for the AV processor. Moon and Rotel already offer such functionality on their units, and it seems that Hegel wants to be the next cool kid on the block. Compared to Moon and Rotel, Hegel provides this functionality on all the inputs, whereas its competitors only on certain inputs. Embracing Home Theater and TV support, the H400 can be configured to accept an infrared signal from a regular remote control, enabling the user to control certain functions with a single remote.
In terms of connectivity, H400 is a beast, having RCA, XLR, S/PDIF, Toslink, USB and Ethernet inputs, phono-stage included. Also, BNC, fixed RCA and variable RCA outputs are available. The variable RCA outputs can be used for connecting subwoofers. The only missing input would be an HDMI ARC connection. I should mention also that H400 comes with auto-sense on all inputs, switching automatically to the input that becomes active. That’s cool!
Prices are like what we are used to from Hegel, the new H400 will cost around $7000 and will be available from this September.
These are its complete technical specifications:
Power output: 2 x 250 W into 8 Ω, Dual Mono
Minimum load: 2 Ω
Analog Inputs: 1 x balanced (XLR), 2 x unbalanced (RCA)
Digital Outputs: 1 x coaxial (BNC) S/PDIF 24/192
Digital Inputs: 1 x coaxial (BNC, S/PDIF 24/192, DSD64 (DoP), MQA 8x), 1 x coaxial (RCA, S/PDIF 24/192, DSD64 (DoP), MQA 8x), 3 x optical (S/PDIF 24/96, MQA 8x), 1 x USB (32/384, DSD256 (DoP), MQA 8x, 1 x Network (24/192, DSD64 (DoP), MQA 8x)
Line level Output: 1 x unbalanced fixed (RCA), 1 x unbalanced variable (RCA)
Streaming: Spotify Connect, Roon Ready, Tidal Connect, Google Cast, AirPlay, airable Internet Radio and Podcast, UPnP
Streaming formats: MP3, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, DSF, DFF, AAC, PCM, MQA, Ogg
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 180 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio: More than 100 dB
Crosstalk: Less than -100 dB
Distortion: Less than 0.005% @ 50 W/8 Ω/1 kHz
Intermodulation: Less than 0.01% (19 kHz + 20 kHz)
Damping factor: More than 4000 (main power output stage)
Dimensions incl feet: 15 cm x 43 cm x 44 cm (HxWxD), 20 kg unit weight
Dimensions (US): 5.9″ x 16.93″ x 17.32″ (HxWxD), 44,1 lbs unit weight
