The Röst Sound
Contents
What’s the Hegel “Röst” sound? That’s hard to sum up in one word. If we have to catch it, “honest” is a word that comes to mind. But we just can’t be that short. So let’s put into words what you might get with the Röst.
Sound Engine
The basis of the Hegel Röst is formed by a class A/B amplifier with the so-called Hegel Sound Engine. In this case generation 2. What the sound engine does is correct errors before they reach the speaker. Forward error correction based on local and global feedback loops.
The sound engine in an invention of Bent Holter van Hegel. Bent is the brains of Hegel. And the founder… His Sound Engine is a complete error correction system in one chip. His explanation makes us suspect that it is a very smart, audiophile op-amp that recognizes and corrects errors. Clever.
See the video below for more information about the Hegel Sound Engine.
The Sound
Anyone who has heard Hegel from time to time will immediately understand what we mean by the following terms. Hegel sounds robust, powerful, dynamic and yet very clean and smooth. It also looks like there’s a lot more power under the hood than the two times 75 watts in 8 Ohm. The DALI Phantoms 280S is a loudspeaker that likes power best. But the Hegel Röst knows how to handle it with its 75 watts. Can it be fucking hard? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But it remains undistorted and dynamic. Quite an achievement!
What we find a nice combination is with the Bowers 606 S2 and the Focal Sopra No1. The first combination is simply strikingly musical. Really deliciously dynamic, willing and eye-catching round and complete. The second one is very mature. Very detailed, good staging and super tight. The Hegel knows how to control the woofer super. Almost Bryston level. Although the 4B SST3 can easily play a lot louder than the Hegel. Logical with 4 x the power.
All in all, this is an amplifier that many a family can really enjoy. Do not be fooled by the compact housing. This is a serious performance device.