Name: Hegel V10
Brand: Hegel
SKU: 11980
Availability: InStock

V10 is Hegel’s first Phono Pre. Winner of all.

With the brand-new Hegel V10 phono preamplifier, Hegel is making a comeback in the analog audio industry. But why this choice?

Today music comes in many forms, and now there are more audio formats available than ever before in history. Hegel’s goal has always been to constantly push the envelope by trying to achieve the best and most natural sound possible with the least distortion. Digital audio has been in constant development in recent years, and Hegel has implemented new and innovative technologies to improve sound quality from digital media. The resurgence of vinyl, however, has also brought attention back to the dark half of the audiophile world and encouraged Hegel to make a phono preamplifier. It will not surprise many that Hegel’s first Pre-Phono won every award and comparative becoming an instant classic and cult object.

Hegel ideally handles analog micro signals.

For years, Hegel resisted outside pressures by prioritizing other projects while still maintaining a focus on the vinyl world so dear to chief designer Bent Holter. The original plan called for a simple and inexpensive pre-phono. Plan completely scrambled in the design phase with a view to staying true to the Hegel DNA summed up in Bent Holter’s phrase, “If you’re not going to do it right, why bother making it?”

This enthusiasm was very infectious and spread throughout the company. Bent was as usual at the helm with his knowledge and experience in analog audio, however, this project was special and the Hegel V10 was carried out as a team effort, with input from the entire highly trained Norwegian engineering staff. With the new Hegel V10 phono preamplifier, no old textbook solutions were copied and no “standard” circuits were used.

Due to Hegel’s know-how in designing state-of-the-art amplification, a theoretical and holistic approach was taken from the very beginning. The V10 is pure Hegel, built from the ground up using modern, discrete amplification. The result is a phono stage with the sound quality we all know from Hegel amplifiers and DACs: detailed, dynamic and neutral, with the kind of soundstage that only vinyl can produce. With a good quality cartridge, the level of detail the V10 can extract from a good vinyl print is simply breathtaking.

Hegel V10: the Pre-Phono of the Future

The Hegel V10 is a new version of an old technology. With 30 years of experience in designing state-of-the-art discrete transistor circuits, Hegel has built a phono preamplifier like no other. It is neutral, dynamic and exceptionally revealing. The Norwegian engineers have used all their knowledge in amplification and applied it to one goal: to reach out and reveal every bit of information. The V10 is designed to capture sound in its entirety. To bring you closer to the music. To get you into the rhythm.

Listening to vinyl is a tactile experience. Carefully open the album cover, remove the record from the inside cover, check for dust or scratches, place it on the platter, and slowly let the stylus drop to bring the sound to life. With the V10, Hegel aims to make this special experience even better.Developed from the ground up and using truly smart and unique technologies, the V10 offers unprecedented transparency and soundstaging, making music as tangible and real as the vinyl record on which it is pressed.

“The ground screw of the V10 is custom made. It is the brainchild of Norwegian designer Trond, who has always been annoyed by small ground screws that are inconvenient and impossible to reach.”

The Chassis of the Hegel V10 Pre.

The excellent result achieved was possible because on the V10 everything was designed with the sole purpose of making the listening experience the best possible. The chassis is divided into two compartments, physically separating the power supplies from the sensitive amplifier circuitry. There is simply no detectable interference between the two parts.

For the best possible connection, the V10 has been equipped with gold-plated terminals, balanced XLR outputs, and a solid custom ground screw. On the all-important input stage, ultra-low noise discrete JFET transistors were used for both Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC) input. The elimination of external noise is especially important when using low-output MC cartridges. This is why the MC input has four of these transistors connected in parallel: to make the input completely silent and to eliminate any bias current feedback to the cartridge coil.

The technology in the Hegel V10

The input signal is fed by equally quiet amplifier circuits, where both the MM and MC gain stages use ultra-low noise power supplies built with discrete bipolar transistors to keep signal noise to a minimum. This ensures extremely accurate amplification of the input signal coming from the turntable. And to make sure the V10 gets the best operating conditions, it comes with a linear, low-noise analog A/C power supply. It features a large, custom-designed E-core transformer placed in its own separate housing to eliminate any possibility of interference.

Vinyl enthusiasts will enjoy the V10. Once unpacked from its box it is an excellent plug and play MM preamplifier. For many, this is exactly what they want and need, but some want even more. This is why the Hegel engineers have made the V10 highly optimizable.With its wide configuration options, the V10 can be tuned for any MM and MC cartridge.

“Hegel V10 is the perfect high-end preamplifier for high-end turntables”

Highly customizable phono preamplifier

When using a MM cartridge the capacitance can be freely increased between 100 and 467 pF while when using a MC cartridge the impedance can be freely set between 33 and 550 ohms or fixed at 47 kohms. On both MM and MC the gain can be increased by 5, 10 or 12 dB adapting to the output of other sources. The V10 also has a subsonic filter to remove unwanted low-frequency noise. And at the end of the day, when your listening session takes you well past your bedtime and you forget to turn off the V10, the adjustable automatic standby function does it for you. All this makes the V10 the perfect companion for listening to your vinyl.