HEGEL H190V

Hegel presents H190V, a HiEnd integrated amplifier equipped with DLNA streaming capabilities capable of playing music from any streaming platform including AirPlay.

With 250W per channel and an incredible damping factor it can drive even the hardest and most difficult speakers.

Great dynamics, transparency, versatility among the most notable qualities.

Today in the new “V” version with integrated phono pre-amp.

In anodized black aluminium, with a beautiful OLED display and a modern and essential design, H190 is ideal to be the center of any system and enough

Hegel H190V, the powerful DLNA HiFi integrated amplifier, now with Phono stage!

Hegel H190V is a High End integrated amplifier with enormous dynamics and total control over the speakers. With a damping factor of over 4,000 and a power output of up to 250W per channel, it is powerful enough to drive almost any loudspeaker on the market, including the most demanding ones, including electrostatics. H190V offers tons of power, with maximum control, without the slightest distortion. All with the usual dynamics and transparency.

As a mid-range amplifier (between the H120 and the H390) the Hegel H190V is not exactly a small stereo amplifier, weighing 19 kg.

The Norwegian design, typical of the entire range, is determined by a simple and elegant chassis with a large digital display that offers information on source, volume, digital resolution / frequency and settings. On the sides of the displays there are two large knobs - one for the source and the other for the volume - milled in the same metal as the front. The power button is hidden under the front, so as not to ruin the aesthetics. The only other external appearance is the simple Hegel branding and 6.3mm headphone jack. Minimalism, here, is an understatement.

Connections for all tastes

On the back of the H190V there is plenty to play with in the digital domain with three optical inputs, one coaxial, one USB and one Ethernet – network input (also for audio) – reflecting the progressive spread of listeners towards digital sources: CD transports, Streamers, high resolution laptops, TVs for those with home cinema setups. For those who still love analogue and don't want to give up the charm of vinyl, we find a high quality Phono MM input derived directly from their award-winning Hegel V10 phono preamplifier. We then find a pair of balanced inputs (XLR) and two pairs of unbalanced RCAs. A line output and a variable unbalanced output are also available. The H190V is supplied with a standard IEC power cable (ideally upgradeable with a good HiFi power cable) and a very solid metal remote control.

Personality and functionality

The H190V is built to deliver 150W per channel into 8 Ohms, 250W into 4, with a minimum load of 2 Ohms. Renownedly, the H190V has industry-leading “grip” (speaker control), with the famous damping factor of 4000 and a signal-to-noise ratio of over 100dB. In a nutshell, pairing any set of speakers isn't really a problem for anyone, except perhaps for the most difficult speakers to drive (whereas the H390 or H590 might be the best options). The amplifier is designed in Oslo by a team led by Bent Holter and is built around a single large, high-quality toroidal transformer. Hegel uses the latest version (2.0) of the proprietary SoundEngine technology in this integrated amplifier, designed not only to increase and improve the dynamic range (which also reduces background noise) but also to improve the damping (grip) of the speakers by "reading" the output pressure to the speakers and providing a correction signal to reduce or remove distortion.

The new market reference

Born 30 years ago in Norway, Hegel Audio has become the new de facto reference for music enthusiasts, audiophiles and people eager to savor the entire musical message. Over the years, a growing range of Hegel integrated amplifiers has become the object of strong curiosity, then of interest and finally the reference for those who want the best HiFi amplifiers on the market. In this panorama, H190V is the central model of a range characterized by the same hardware and software setup, in which the benefits of the pragmatic Hegel design are well spread across the entire range of electronics. H190V today is chosen to drive a vast range of floor and stand speakers, typically the fine lines of the best manufacturers, with price levels up to several thousand euros.

Modern and smart amplifier

Just connect your HiFi speakers and start streaming music with the convenience of Apple AirPlay or Spotify Connect. Any DLNA streamer can be used with the H190V quickly and easily, and you'll be ready to listen to high-fidelity music with maximum freedom. The clear latest generation OLED display, like the one equipped with the smaller (Hegel H120) and larger (H390...) integrated devices, provides all the necessary information clearly and the two potentiometers allow volume adjustment and source selection . With the practical remote control everything will be at your fingertips.

Why choose it?

The perfect product does not exist, although to tell the truth the new H190V comes very close to this definition.

For various reasons:

• Build quality: Simply superb. A heavy, solid and understated design built with quality components and that makes Norwegians proud. The remote feels pleasantly weighty, with satisfyingly tactile buttons.
• Sound quality: While speaker coupling is key for any amplifier, the Hegel H190V is 100% ready to drive almost any pair of speakers. It offers astonishing clarity and detail, with energy and oodles of space and control. Whether it's pounding techno, rock or '50s jazz, the H190V proves to be an excellent choice. All inputs are extremely good and the DAC is surprisingly good, even exceptional for an integrated, especially through the coaxial input. The new Phono input for MM cartridges derived from the high-performance V10 returns an open, rich and detailed sound in line with the performance of the amplifier.
• Value for money: over 4000 euros are not a few cents but when you invest to really transform the core of your system it is a good investment that you it will pay off in many years of satisfaction. With many amplifiers in this class costing significantly more, this Hegel proves to be at a very fair price point and worth every penny of the asking price.
• Pros: Strong but understated aesthetics, class-leading power, superb detail and musical imaging, excellent integrated DAC and multitude of streaming options combined with a high level phono stage, at a decent price. Well made and structured remote control.
• Cons: few analogue inputs, it can be a remote problem only for nostalgics with many analogue sources. The DAC lacks MQA, however higher models support it.

State of The Art DAC

The high-end DAC ensures extremely precise decoding, providing the best sound for the entire set up. SoundEngine2 error cancellation technology avoids distortion and preserves the detail and dynamic range of the original music signal.

The H190V features a 6.3mm headphone output located on the front, so you can easily connect and disconnect your favorite headphones.

With powerful technology inside a modern casing, the H190V is the perfect embodiment of Hegel's signature philosophy and quality. The rear panel is neatly divided with analog inputs and outputs on the left; these include balanced inputs and both fixed and variable outputs, which might seem strange when you have a high-powered amplifier on board, but it actually offers the option of bi-amping too! The right flank provides a sextet of digital inputs that includes three Toslinks and an Ethernet connection in its ranks. This last connection is the key. Combined with a third-party control application like BubbleUPnP the H190V becomes a network streamer – more on audio streamer here – capable of extracting music from a NAS drive or an audio server. The Hegel H190V also has Apple AirPlay functionality, which bypasses the limitations of the source by effectively adding a multiplicity of inputs, such as internet radio.

Hegel H190V is the dominator of low frequencies

How can you control the bass so well? The “amplification” side of the H190V is absolutely beyond compare. Designed to produce 150 Watts into 8 Ohms and 250W into 4 Ohms, with a very high damping factor of over 4000, it allows you to drive practically any speaker and has enormous bass grip. Let's imagine we are driving our car and towing a broken down car. Our machine is the amplifier, the broken down machine, with its inertia and mass, is the bass woofer. Now imagine towing the broken down car with a non-deformable steel bar. Every time we accelerate, every time we brake, the towed machine will be immediately and equally stressed and will respond without hesitation to the commands given by the connecting bar. Now let's imagine replacing the bar with a classic, much more widespread, elastic cable or rope. It is easy to imagine now how every acceleration or braking of our car will not be copied by the towed one except with a strong delay and with a terrible elastic effect, with slow acceleration and even gentler braking. Well. Hegel tows your broken down car (speakers) with a steel bar of incomparable rigidity while most amplifiers on the market use an elastic band.

Hegel H190V is at its absolute best with drivers characterized by transparent, smooth highs and good bass extension, but the fact that it has such control over low frequencies makes the range of excellent matches much wider than average. Naturally the brands we know very well such as Kef and Dynaudio, but also the medium and medium-high range B&W, Focal, Klipsch, Sonus Faber are excellently manageable by this HiFi amplifier with large current capacity.

Convenient streaming from Smartphone

With the powerful Hegel H190V, streaming directly using your smartphone or tablet is very easy. Connected to the home network, the H190V will be available as a DMR (render) to which music content can be sent via the AirPlay protocol (in case you use Apple products) or DLNA (UPnP) in case of Android / Windows.

In order to obtain maximum performance in terms of quality and functionality it is possible to use proven and valid Apps such as MConnect HD: through the App (€6.99 on the stores: here at the Apple or Google link) you can combine the Tidal or Qobuz account and send and manage your favorite music with the highest quality available (even at maximum resolution 24/192). Not only that, you can read files from the NAS, listen to Internet Radio with VTuner (included) and Deezer.

Hegel is a certified MConnect partner so through the App the music signal is sent from the server directly to the H190V making the smartphone a simple remote control. In detail, the MConnect App manages HD 24/192 files, files with native MQA encoding and DSD. mconnect

Roon Ready features

Are you ready? Yes, Roon Ready has finally arrived on H190V. Roon is a platform for all the music in your home. It allows you to seamlessly combine your locally stored music and music services into one powerful, beautiful, and easy-to-use interface. Hegel is not satisfied with purchasing from third parties – like most manufacturers – the drivers and code necessary for full Roon coding. He demands the maximum in terms of quality and is responsible for the total creation of the interface towards Roon. If connected via USB, Roon acts as a Player and Hegel as a DMR, taking advantage of all the features and qualities of Roon with the exception of the RAAT (which requires internal implementation). Now you have the opportunity to ALSO take advantage of RAAT technology. Once you have installed Roon Core – the software that manages music files, streaming services and audio devices – you can control everything through a single App. Roon supports music files stored on internal and external hard drives and NAS, the iTunes library , live radio stations and streaming content from TIDAL and Qobuz. With the Multi-Room feature you can control music in every room of your home with Roon's beautiful user interface. You can produce different music in each room or even organize a party with the same playlist throughout the house. Note: Roon is spot on when it comes to functionality and quality. Hegel is at the top for overall quality: musical - speaker driving - naturalness and realism of the sound stage: we recommend that these are the priorities in the choice and, only afterwards, the functionality of instruments like Roon.

Control4 and Crestron certified integrated amplifiers

All Hegel integrated amplifiers starting from the H120 model and up are officially Control4 certified. This means that any Control4 installer can now integrate Hegel very easily into a smart home and any Home Automation application. Control4 is today the leading intelligent home control system in the world and this makes Hegel the perfect choice for those who want to combine great musical quality and a connected and modern lifestyle. Hegel is the only manufacturer of high-performance stereos that can truly be controlled via IP and integrated safely. And, as far as we know, the only one in the world where Control4 software is integrated. So an installer can simply connect a network cable to the Hegel amplifier. Once the Control4 software is launched Hegel will automatically appear as a Control4 unit on your network. It will be possible to drag Hegel by dropping him in the desired position of the project. A high-quality project can never be easier than it is with Hegel!

Another top-level automation and home automation giant is Crestron. The Hegel H120, H190V, H390 and H590 high-end integrated amplifiers will be equipped with Crestron drivers from January 2020 – Crestron Drivers for Hegel will also be available on the Crestron App Store.

High level installation with Crestron or Control4

With Hegel you will have an easy life and extreme quality for music and films.

How do you connect the Hegel H190V to the network to listen to Tidal or Qobuz HD streaming?

1. You need a Modem/Router connected to the internet. H190V must be connected to the Router via Ethernet cable. In the case of multiple devices we recommend using 8Switch. Apple users will see H190V under the AirPlay connection options – maximum simplicity.
2. Android users, for example through the MConnect App, will be able to download music from their favorite streaming service and send it to the H190V which it will find online under the UpNP (DLNA) service. The Tidal and Qobuz apps for smartphones are excellent for both stability and management... ideal for living happily

Tip: filtered AC power

In HiFi listening chains the various devices must be coherent with each other to achieve maximum results. Amplifiers and delicate electronics should always be powered with possibly controlled and filtered electricity. Any noise induced by changes in the home network or in the macro living area is reflected in voltage fluctuations - even significant and harmful ones for the device - which in the best of cases are detrimental to the pleasure of listening and the absolute performance of our devices . We strongly recommend, with reasonable or good quality amplifiers and audio electronics, the use of shielded power cables and good quality power strips. These improve the life and performance of the connected devices and also of the rest of the home appliances since they do not filter disturbances and discharges but, symmetrically, they do not emit them. Toroidal electrical insulators for HiFi are also recommended to obtain the maximum in terms of listening and safety.

Tested and 100% approved speakers with Hegel H190V

Among others, the qualities of transparency, dynamics and power of the Hegel integrated amplifiers find a perfect match in combination with the Kef and Dynaudio brands. In particular, H190V is frequently associated with Kef Serie R (especially from R7 to R11), Dynaudio Evoke (perfect with Evoke 50), Dynaudio Special Forty. Do you love dynamics and transparency of sound but need more power? Try the best streaming integrated amplifier, H390. O Find out more about Hegel.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Power Output 2 x 150 W into 8 ohms, Dual Mono

Minimum Load 2 Ohms

Analog Inputs 1 x Balanced (XLR), 2 x Unbalanced (RCA), 1 x Phono MM (RCA)

Digital Inputs 1 x Coaxial (RCA), 3 x Optical S/PDIF, 1 USB, 1 x Network

Line Level Output 1 x Unbalanced Variable (RCA), 1 Unbalanced Fixed (RCA)

Frequency Response 5 Hz-100 KHz

Signal-to-noise Ratio More than 100 dB

Crosstalk Less than -100 dB

Distortion Less than 0.01% @25 W 8 Ohms / 1 KHz

Intermodulation Less than 0.01% (19 KHz + 20 KHz)

Damping factor More than 4000@ (main power output stage)

Dimensions – Weight 12 cm x 43 cm x 41 cm (HxWxD) – 19 Kg

Special Features

• Set Startup Volume
• Set Max Volume
• Upgradable software
• IP control Apple
• AirPlay
• Spotify SoundEngine2