Reviews in general discuss components from value for money perspective. After all sonic virtues one's looking for are only achievable in one's budget. Often we discuss compromises and look for specific set of traits to make things work for a given system in regards to specified price bracket. It is not every day you can double or treble what your're willing to spend just to get everything you're after. And value for money approach is not a bad thing in principle. Where things get tricky is the minute you reach a certain level of fidelity that in order for you to surpass it you're forced to look at a number of factors that most artists don't even consider while recording. That's for me were famous "law of diminishing returns" come in. It's when you look into the recording at the finest of levels. Ultimate detail, abundance of spatial cues, it's where accuraccy is not enough and where you need absolute transparency. All sounds great? Right... see my use of the term "recording" a couple of sentences back was intentional. So often when a certain of level of performance is reached it is no longer about musical reproduction. And that's fine but what if the next level compromise is between the musicality and the ultimate analysis. What are we listening to after all music or sound?
So what if we looked at it from a different perspective for once? What was necessary for musical reproduction? What was the difference between sound and music? For me as someone who spent his formative years around live instruments music was always about rhythm. I could hear music when a dripping tap would create the most intriguing of time signatures. I was the guy who would be quite happy to just listen to the rhytm section. In fact when recording vocals I usually did this to the accompaniament of the rhythm section only. All the trimmings would come next and all were not essential to me. I know this may be quite a peculiar view and many would disagree. Many would put melody front and centre and work from there. Well you see melody at the end of the day needs its own rhythm, without different rhythm you have a different melody. But rhythm does not need melody.
So looking at it from this perspective of chosing hifi component you're forced to look for certain traits which are not necessarily the ones many people go for. What is after all needed to reproduce the sound of a drum? Dynamics... where many of my previous gear would handle these with different degrees of confidence I've not yet heard another component that matches Hegel with the way it does it. Where attack is what many manufacturers pay attention to Hegel does it differently. Yes, the attack is still there and lightning quick but what differentiates it for me is how it handles decay and the fact it decays into the blackest of backgrounds. I spent my first hour with Rost not really knowing what it was that made it sound so right. Then I realised it was the sound of the rhythm section. Drums sounded convincing with an immediate kick drum that had punch and carried rhythm so well. The bass guitar notes that had precise edges but it didn't do it at a cost of timbre. Bass was textured and well reproduced whether you're listening to Charles Mingus or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kick drum doesn't blend in with bass guitar it's all separate with it's own distinct sound.
The presentation is build from ground up. But it doesn't mean bass is exagarated. It is punchy and deep but doesn't overpower the midrange. But it allows for a very confident rhytmic presentation that lets music flow. Whether it's a small Jazz trio like on Esperanze Spalding's album "Junjo" that keeps it relatively simple or a Progressive Metal of Animals as Leaders self titled debut album that's a little more demading. Rost has a way with rhythm that many amps I've heard just don't do it so well. And the background for all of it is really impressive. Dark as if there was nothing there.
Moving up to mids these are reproduced accurately and with a lot of detail. There's a lovely differentiation of timbre. When listening to Jeff Buckley "Grace" (title track) the many guitars are easy to follow as they just sound so different. Mix of synths and natural sounding instruments on Enya's "Shepherd Moons" album is done expertly with distinct layers and rhytmical patterns. Intruments and vocals have space to breathe and fill the soundstage. Hegel favours a rather accurate presentation when it comes to vocals. I admit to have a slight preference in this area which is much more towards valves. I like the euphonic ghostly qualities that create and illusion and Hegel is certainly not that. However the whole spectrum is done in such a way that I appreciate and enjoy it without being critical. Mainly because how fierce it can sound. And no it's not just in bass. Listening to Miles Davis's "Milestones" is really something. Horns are pounding and it's just how it's supposed to be.
Moving up once again, treble doesn't attract any attention to itself. There's enough bite in the cymbals which I like at the same time there's no brightness or coarseness. Top is open and not favoured over all other bands. I'd call it honest but it certainly isn't a negative. Ribbon tweeters in my speakers are quite fussy when it comes to this area and any harshness would be exposed. I would say and this is a personal preference I'd rather have more sparkle and sweetness here but if you're after honest presentation it's there.
From functionality perspective I must admit my first impressions where somewhat inaccurate. I was under impression that the in-built DAC was easily bettered. And it could be... Hegel decided to treat it's USB input in a slightly different way. It limited it to 24/96 input but allows using play/pause/skip buttons on the remote when used with PC playback. I like that functionality however USB can sound slightly congested when compared to Optical input. When comparing the DAC via one of it's Optical inputs it really would need a class compontent to bettered it. For non critical listening there's also Upnp and Airplay. Both do really well and having tried it with Tidal via BubbleUpnp and Apple Music via Airplay I must admit Hegel is probably cheating a little
lossy Apple Music did sound quite good even when compared to Tidal.
Before I finish this review I should add that I was not really looking at buying an amp. I wanted to buy a DAC to compliment my now departed Densen B-110. It was only becasue of Rick at Musicraft that I considered Hegel and his insistence to try the Rost. Thanks very much, Rick I admit it didn't take me long to my mind up. It just sounded right and compared to Densen that's not an easy feat.
So, what is necessary for musical reproduction? Whatever it is after 4 weeks with Rost I can assure you... Rost has it.
So what if we looked at it from a different perspective for once? What was necessary for musical reproduction? What was the difference between sound and music? For me as someone who spent his formative years around live instruments music was always about rhythm. I could hear music when a dripping tap would create the most intriguing of time signatures. I was the guy who would be quite happy to just listen to the rhytm section. In fact when recording vocals I usually did this to the accompaniament of the rhythm section only. All the trimmings would come next and all were not essential to me. I know this may be quite a peculiar view and many would disagree. Many would put melody front and centre and work from there. Well you see melody at the end of the day needs its own rhythm, without different rhythm you have a different melody. But rhythm does not need melody.
So looking at it from this perspective of chosing hifi component you're forced to look for certain traits which are not necessarily the ones many people go for. What is after all needed to reproduce the sound of a drum? Dynamics... where many of my previous gear would handle these with different degrees of confidence I've not yet heard another component that matches Hegel with the way it does it. Where attack is what many manufacturers pay attention to Hegel does it differently. Yes, the attack is still there and lightning quick but what differentiates it for me is how it handles decay and the fact it decays into the blackest of backgrounds. I spent my first hour with Rost not really knowing what it was that made it sound so right. Then I realised it was the sound of the rhythm section. Drums sounded convincing with an immediate kick drum that had punch and carried rhythm so well. The bass guitar notes that had precise edges but it didn't do it at a cost of timbre. Bass was textured and well reproduced whether you're listening to Charles Mingus or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kick drum doesn't blend in with bass guitar it's all separate with it's own distinct sound.
The presentation is build from ground up. But it doesn't mean bass is exagarated. It is punchy and deep but doesn't overpower the midrange. But it allows for a very confident rhytmic presentation that lets music flow. Whether it's a small Jazz trio like on Esperanze Spalding's album "Junjo" that keeps it relatively simple or a Progressive Metal of Animals as Leaders self titled debut album that's a little more demading. Rost has a way with rhythm that many amps I've heard just don't do it so well. And the background for all of it is really impressive. Dark as if there was nothing there.
Moving up to mids these are reproduced accurately and with a lot of detail. There's a lovely differentiation of timbre. When listening to Jeff Buckley "Grace" (title track) the many guitars are easy to follow as they just sound so different. Mix of synths and natural sounding instruments on Enya's "Shepherd Moons" album is done expertly with distinct layers and rhytmical patterns. Intruments and vocals have space to breathe and fill the soundstage. Hegel favours a rather accurate presentation when it comes to vocals. I admit to have a slight preference in this area which is much more towards valves. I like the euphonic ghostly qualities that create and illusion and Hegel is certainly not that. However the whole spectrum is done in such a way that I appreciate and enjoy it without being critical. Mainly because how fierce it can sound. And no it's not just in bass. Listening to Miles Davis's "Milestones" is really something. Horns are pounding and it's just how it's supposed to be.
Moving up once again, treble doesn't attract any attention to itself. There's enough bite in the cymbals which I like at the same time there's no brightness or coarseness. Top is open and not favoured over all other bands. I'd call it honest but it certainly isn't a negative. Ribbon tweeters in my speakers are quite fussy when it comes to this area and any harshness would be exposed. I would say and this is a personal preference I'd rather have more sparkle and sweetness here but if you're after honest presentation it's there.
From functionality perspective I must admit my first impressions where somewhat inaccurate. I was under impression that the in-built DAC was easily bettered. And it could be... Hegel decided to treat it's USB input in a slightly different way. It limited it to 24/96 input but allows using play/pause/skip buttons on the remote when used with PC playback. I like that functionality however USB can sound slightly congested when compared to Optical input. When comparing the DAC via one of it's Optical inputs it really would need a class compontent to bettered it. For non critical listening there's also Upnp and Airplay. Both do really well and having tried it with Tidal via BubbleUpnp and Apple Music via Airplay I must admit Hegel is probably cheating a little
lossy Apple Music did sound quite good even when compared to Tidal.Before I finish this review I should add that I was not really looking at buying an amp. I wanted to buy a DAC to compliment my now departed Densen B-110. It was only becasue of Rick at Musicraft that I considered Hegel and his insistence to try the Rost. Thanks very much, Rick
I admit it didn't take me long to my mind up. It just sounded right and compared to Densen that's not an easy feat.So, what is necessary for musical reproduction? Whatever it is after 4 weeks with Rost I can assure you... Rost has it.
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