During my auditions for a new stereo amplifier, one of the models I chose for listening was the Hegel H190V, a newer version of the H190. Hegel is a brand often used by Amphion for demonstrations at audio shows, so it was an obvious pick.
This thing is built like a tank. It has a really solid feel, but the color is fairly bland and whole design kinda uninspiring, even sad. The OLED display is really nice though—it’s easy to read from a distance and not too bright in the evenings. The remote is aluminum and feels solid in hand, but the grid of identical buttons isn’t intuitive. I think you can get used to it over time, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
The H190V is advertised by Hegel as a complete audio solution. It has all the inputs you might need, but unfortunately, HDMI eARC is missing. The built-in streamer doesn’t support Wi-Fi, so you need to have an Ethernet cable available near your amp, which is a bit of a bummer. It only supports Spotify and AirPlay, so if you’re using Tidal or Qobuz, you’re out of luck. Another unexpected omission is the lack of 12V trigger connections.
Now, onto the sound quality. Objectively, it’s an impressive piece of equipment. It has almost no coloration and reproduces every recording as accurately as it is. The treble is detailed, nicely extended, and airy. The same goes for the midrange. The bass is precise, fast, and very well controlled. Sound reproduction is almost faultless, and if you like a neutral, detail-oriented presentation, this is the amp for you.
But I wasn’t convinced. Subjectively, the bass lacks weight—it’s so precise, almost too precise for my liking. At times, it feels almost computer-generated. I also would have loved a bit more density in the midrange. However, the main reason I decided to pass on this device was that it feels overly sensitive to volume. At low volumes, everything shrinks and disappears—the sound becomes thinner and “smaller.” When you crank the volume up, you can hear it roar, but for cozy evening listening below 75 dB, I’m not sure this is the right choice. That was ultimately the main reason I decided to pass on it.