HEGEL P30A > Review in SoundStage!
Get off my lawn
Full disclosure: I own one of those jam-packed, gee-whiz components. My upstairs system consists of Estelon YB speakers powered by a Hegel Music Systems H120 integrated amplifier–DAC. It’s a great little amp and the high-quality DAC receives digital signals via USB from a Logitech Squeezebox Touch, so I’m taking advantage of all the H120’s features. The H120 makes sense for its current usage. It sounds great and works perfectly with my crusty Touch streamer that might as well be coal-powered, given the speed with which computer technology has advanced since I bought it.
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The P30A is a sturdy, dense box. Weighing just under 16 pounds and measuring 4″H × 17″W × 12″D, there’s some serious heft to it. The P30A squats reassuringly on its three rubber-tipped feet. It’s got a purposeful feel, does this component. One small nit to pick: at this price point I’d like the RCAs to be chassis mounted, just to take advantage of the incredibly sturdy construction of the P30A’s bodywork.
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Internally, the signal passes through two transistors and that attenuator, all the while employing Hegel’s SoundEngine2 system of feed-forward error correction. SoundEngine2 is said to significantly reduce all types of distortion and dramatically improve dynamic range.
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Bread used to be a nickel a loaf
Truth be told, before it landed I was a little apprehensive about combining the P30A with the DS 003 cartridge, DS-EQ1, and my Bryston 4B3. My SFL-2 preamp is the last vestige of my tube gear, my final connection to the past when I wanted everything in my house to be powered by tubes. So swapping in the P30A meant that I would—for the first time in years—be listening to an all-solid-state system. I wasn’t sure I wanted to like this change.
But like it I did. Once I’d adjusted to zero noise, to having a remote control, to not having to turn it off at the end of a listening session, and just relaxed into a whole new world of crisp musical insights and revelations, I found myself drawn into the music, down a pathway that I honestly didn’t know existed. In the end I found myself seriously debating whether I should move on from tubes altogether. At this point I’m still not sure if I’m ready to make what’s a huge step for me.
In all, I wholeheartedly applaud Hegel for deciding to build the P30A preamplifier. In this fast-moving world where technological advances become obsolete not long after they’re introduced, it’s uncommonly refreshing to see a company that’s technologically savvy enough to build a product that I predict will be as relevant 30 years from now as it is today.
- Jason Thorpe
Hegel P30A
SoundStage!