I have recently had the opportunity to have a listen to the Heschl HAL350 in my factory reference system . Ok just a quick history , Rod Harris the designer has been bringing me his prototypes for about 3 years now . Starting with the 300watt per channel power amp ! It was a good amp from the first prototype and perhaps within the top 5 or 6 amps I had heard .
The last power amp version I heard was in 2017 and it was improving in sound with each version . It was around this time that Rod also brought his first stand alone prototype DAC in for a listen ! a good DAC but not at the absolute high end at that time , the next proto certainly got closer but was not quite up to my current Reference PS Audio Direct Stream device.
OK ! in mid 2018 Rod arrives with the HAL350, an integrated Pre, Power, DAC with 350watts per channel . In my Reference system this all in one device has produced in some ways the best sound I have heard ! determining whether it’s the Power amp or DAC is not possible but I can confirm it is a definite SOTA contender.
Feeding the DAC with our custom built Server and Curious USB cable provides a VERY analogue sound and in some cases exceeds the performance of our Vinyl rig and Aesthetics Phono Stage . Vinyl is still very viable as an all out source but it would be wise to consider the latest in DAC technology . I haven’t heard everything of course but this device must rate near the very top regardless of asking price.