[TwoEars]

Hegel HD25? Anyone heard it?
 
Ugly little black box but seems like a giant slayer:
 
http://www.ultraaudio.com/index.php/equipment-menu/339-hegel-music-systems-hd25-digital-to-analog-converter
 
http://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/610-hegel-music-systems-hd25-digital-to-analog-converter
 
Discuss!

 

 

[erikfreedom]

I like it very much. it has brought my ef-6 amp to another level. but I find it is a ruthless dac. not warm at all. but maybe it has to do with the fact that I went from an asus xonar essence stx to hegel hd25. with well recorded stuff it is magical and very beautiful. it pair extremely well with hifiman he-6 headphones. gives them a soundstage that I find more impressive than my hd 800.

 

[erikfreedom]

I also started to use equalizer apo. I am on windows 7 64 bits and it does wonder with my hegel hd25. I give a 6db bass boost. makes for a much more pleasurable sound with my hd 800 and he-6. 

 

[icebear]

When I was in the market for a DAC, I also considered the Hegel but ultimately settled for an exasound e20. I am driving my HD800 directly with the e20 DAC and I'm very happy with this combination. Actually this DAC (e20) was developed using the HD800 as monitoring device. I guess that's not a bad match

.
 
It comes with 30 day money back guarantee, so no risk in doing a thorough in home audition in your system. If you don't like it, you sent it back. I bet that this isn't going to happen if you go for it.

 

[erikfreedom]

the guy who sold me the hd25 own one himself for his speaker rig. I went to his home to hear the setup. he has hegel h4se amp with hd25 dac and he has martin logan clx art speakers. he is an electrostatic speaker freak. needless to say I was very impressed. it was a very nice rig, sounding much better than many more costlier rigs. hegel stuff is designed and made in Norway. it is very high quality stuff with extreme value. it competes easily with stuff costing 4 times more.  hegel stuff has struck a chord with me. I like the way they think. hegel boss is a very nice dude too. they are bringing exquisite sound quality to people like me who cannot afford 50 000$ dacs.
 
I am trying to convince them to make a genuine solid state headphone amp that would be a good match with their hd25 dac. not an amp with a dac. I dislike very much those type of amplifiers that tries to do it all.

 

[TwoEars]

  I like it very much. it has brought my ef-6 amp to another level. but I find it is a ruthless dac. not warm at all. but maybe it has to do with the fact that I went from an asus xonar essence stx to hegel hd25. with well recorded stuff it is magical and very beautiful. it pair extremely well with hifiman he-6 headphones. gives them a soundstage that I find more impressive than my hd 800.

 
You went from essence stx directly to hd25??? That's crazy