Integrated Amplifiers

The secret of Hegel's success? It does things its own way, from the extensive in-house product engineering to its entertaining – yes really – instruction manuals, illustrated with colour pictures of Norwegian landscapes, flora and fauna. Though it seems almost like a newcomer on the hi-fi scene, due to the prominence it has achieved in recent years, the company traces its roots back to 1988, and founder Bent Holter's university thesis. The subject? A novel design for the transistors used in amplifiers, and a cure for the common problems of hi-fi systems. Nothing if not ambitious, but that thinking has informed the company's development ever since. Very soon the company's SoundEngine design was laid down, and through the 1990s Hegel struck out into CD players and DACs, hiring extra engineers to develop new technologies. Today the company – named not for the German philosopher but after a rock band in which Holter played during the '90s – has a range including multiple DACs, the Mohican CD player [HFN Oct '16], and amplifiers both integrated and pre/power. And Hegel likes to give its products statements of intent: in the case of the H95 amplifier, adapted from an Einstein quote – 'Intelligence is Change'.