Hegel H400

STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

- TOM FINE

The Internet of Things has arrived at the stereo rack." Many hi-fi systems are now connected to the wider world, controlled by phones and tablets. Complex front panels with many switches and buttons have practically vanished; those still around are retro pieces or style statements. Little front-panel touchscreens with complex menu trees have been rendered vestigial or at least redundant. Designers of receivers, integrated amplifiers, and DACs must now at least consider incorporating a streaming module and a device-control app. In certain component categories and certain price brackets, a built-in app-controlled streamer is now a key part of the value proposition, much as a tuner was back in the days of terrestrial radio.

The most powerful and flexible control interfaces are now phone/tablet apps. The modern hi-fi component, if it has anything to do with streaming, is tightly integrated with an app, receiving commands over home networks or by Bluetooth while interacting with streaming services over the interwebs. Because a smartphone or touch-screen tablet is a high-resolution visual paletteand because you hold it in your hand-this is a more convenient and flexible (if sometimes buggier) way of controlling a device, offering far more options than those front-panel knobs and switches or even the most complex and confusing pushbutton remote control. What's more, the feature set can be reshuffled or expanded from afar with an update to the app and/or the device's firmware.