Hegel H120 Integrated Amplifier

Description

The H120 is a small step up from Hegel’s entry level amplifier in terms of price, but it is a solid step up in features and performance. The significantly larger power supply creates a more dynamic sound and can drive more challenging loudspeakers.

The digital section is taken directly from its larger H190 sibling, and this is really the core of the H120. We see the typical user of the Hegel H120 as people who are into digital music streaming, but there are plenty of options available for analogue music lovers.

Key Features

• 2 x 75 W (8 Ω)
• 6 digital inputs
• 3 analogue inputs including a balanced XLR input
• SoundEngine 2
• Apple AirPlay
• DLNA/UPnP
• Spotify Connect
• Certified Roon Ready
• Headphone output
• Firmware upgradable over the Internet

Built-in DAC

The digital-to-analogue conversion in the Hegel H120 is of the highest quality. The technology is crafted from the ground up by Hegel. The H120 takes full control of the digital data stream, using technology developed from Hegel’s absolute reference products.

The goal is to ensure that digital music is delivered in its purest form. The result for you is perfectly natural sound, without any artifacts or harshness to make you want to turn the volume down.

Flexible Configuration

The Hegel H120 has Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect and UPnP streaming. More features are already in progress and will be offered at no cost, using the easy over-the-Internet software update functionality. All inputs are configurable for volume bypass, so you can integrate in a home theatre or with a third party streamer, for example Bluesound or Sonos. Whatever you want, you can do it with the Hegel H120.

SoundEngine2

The H120 uses the Hegel’s SoundEngine2 amplifier platform, allowing a damping factor higher than 2,000 together with extremely low distortion levels. SoundEngine technology works rather like a noise cancelling headphone. It compares the output of the amplifier with the input. It detects all the distortion and plays this forward into the speaker output, but in reverse phase.

In this way, it cancels out distortion in real time, leaving you with only the most natural sound. SoundEngine technology has been developed over more than 30 years, from conception to where it is now. Millions of dollars have been invested in its development. It is what makes possible the sound performance for the money in the Hegel H120.