Hegel H120 Integrated Amplifier

Introducing the H120 

The Intelligent Amplifier from Hegel

Standing on the shoulders of GIANTS, the H120 carries forward the proud history of HEGEL amplifiers. The multi award winning designs that over the years have dazzled listeners with their combination of raw dynamics and delicate naturality. The H120 carries that legacy with it, but in a smaller and more affordable package.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - said Isaac Newton in 1675.

Without comparing themselves to Isaac, Hegel would like to make the claim the same for the H120. It is a relatively affordable integrated amplifier that would not have been possible, were it not for its brothers leading up to its design.

The Hegel H120 is a small step up from their entry level amplifiers 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 for combining with large loudspeakers presenting more challenging drive loads. The digital section is taken directly from its bigger siblings, and this is really the core of the H120. Typical user of the H120 as people are into digital music streaming. Bang for buck, the H120 does that better than anything else.

The digital-to-analog conversion is of the highest quality in the H120, with technology crafted from the ground up by Hegel. Taking full control of the digital data stream, using technology developed from their reference products, ensures digital music delivery in its purest form.

The result is perfectly natural sound, without any artifacts that make you want to turn the volume down. The H120 has Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect, IP Control, Control4 and upnp streaming. More features are already in progress and will be offered at no cost, using the easy software update functionality. All inputs are configurable for volume bypass, so you can integrate in a home theatre or with (for example) a Bluesound or Sonos.

Whatever you want, you can do it with the H120.

The H120 uses the Hegel SoundEngine 2 amplifier platform allowing a damping factor higher than 2000 together with extremely low distortion levels. Details about the SoundEngine can be found on hegel.com. In many ways it works like a noise cancelling headphone. It compares the output of the amplifier with the input. It detects all the sound pollution (distortion), and plays this forward into the speaker output, but in reverse phase. Like 1 minus 1 equals 0. It cancels out all pollution in real time, leaving you with only the most natural sound.