To say I’m impressed by the new Australian designed and built Heschl is an understatement, it has to be heard playing to be believed how good it is.
But first up I had to fall into my normal, but mistaken, lets see which amp has the most balls comparison mode that I tend to do when comparing amps and that seriously is a waste of time and something I must get over doing.
The PrimaLuna / MF Supercharger combo delivers a little less than twice the power of Heschl so its easy to get more bass slam at higher volumes but that is not what good music or listening is all about. If it comes down to grunt then the PL/Supercharger combo kind of wins, then the Heschl, then the $30K plus Technical Brain TB-Zero, but again that is not a true reflection of what any of these amps deliver sq wise for normal everyday listening. To make it as close to a level playing field to start off with we listened to the Heschl using the DAC in the Droplet CDP so it was on level ground with the other amps. Next time we compare them seriously the Heschl’s upgradeable built in DAC will get a run.
After Jeff left late yesterday arvo Gloria and I just sat down and listened to music at our normal volume levels using the Heschl, ok depending on the track we did turn it up a bit I’ll admit, and the sound quality and enjoyment we experienced listening to quite a number of old favourites was way way beyond what I expected after having the earlier high volume listening session which if anything left me a little confused.
This amp more than deserves a decent comparison against the likes of the much more expensive TB and some of my more favoured tube amp combo’s, hopefully Simon and Rod will leave the HAL350 with us long enough to have that opportunity.
For those of you going to the Hi-Fi show this coming weekend in Melbourne the Heschl HAL350 integrated will be playing in Mike Lenehan’s room, I would strongly recommend having a listen, this is a very impressive amp and while my first thoughts were who in their right minds would start up a Australian Amp building business with a $25k integrated as their first model I would have to say my initial negative reaction was truly unfounded and at this stage I am now of the opinion its a bit of a serious bargain, after spending a little one on one time with the HAL350 my guess is it is going to be very hard to give this amp back.
Anyway both Jeff and I are looking forward to our next session in a couple of weeks time with the Heschl along with a number of other impressive amps. Though I know this time I will have to surrender the volume control to Jeff so some serious comparison can take place without me trying to deafen the neighbours within a hundred metre radius.
cheers Terry
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