At the other end of the system, I’ve already pushed the cartridge choice about as far as I can, but digital options abound. Playing with more expensive, integrated CD/SACD players like the CH Precision D1.5 and Wadax Studio Player, the Heed amp not only rose to the challenge, it was more than capable of revealing the differences between and the strengths of the two machines. Can you outrun the Lagrange’s capabilities? Sure you can – but it’s going to cost you a bit to do it! This isn’t just an amp that looks way more expensive than it is. It performs just as confidently and sweetly as its elegant appearance suggests.
In a similar vein, experiments with supports and grounding to external parallel grounds demonstrated clearly just how responsive the Heed amp is to such niceties. Even simple maple blocks bypassing the soft feet wrought a worthwhile sharpening of the sound, while grounding an unused RCA input (or even better, one of the Pre-Outs) to a CAD GC3 was even more successful. These steps aren’t essential to enjoying the Lagrange, but they do indicate just how far you can take its performance if you really try.
Conclusions
More often than not, when a company steeped in producing separates introduces an integrated, the narrative goes something along the lines of, “Here’s most of the performance of our big expensive separates in a more compact and more affordable, single-box format.” That isn’t the case here. The Heed Lagrange is (at least currently) a standalone, statement product. It’s twice the size of anything else the company makes and although their top-of-the-line Thesis range includes a compact pre-amp and mono-blocks, I suspect that the flagship integrated is also the flagship product, psychologically and philosophically if not in pure price terms. Does the Lagrange represent Heed’s most musically satisfying amplifier? I suspect it does and that it portends changes elsewhere in the range. If that’s the case, the future for Heed is as bright as it is for Lagrange owners…
Here we have an amplifier that does way, way more than simply tick all the boxes. Its thoughtfully executed features and facilities are combined with astonishing musicality to create a product that would be at home at the heart of any serious but seriously affordable system: and equally at home serving in a second system for someone who already owns a high-end set-up. The only danger in this second scenario is that the Heed’s inherent musical coherence and integrity, its sheer listenability, might point out shortcomings in a far more complex and expensive system. Still, you can’t knock it for that. Versatile, capable and unfailingly musical, Heed’s brilliant Lagrange is everything an affordable amplifier should be. A beautifully balanced and innately musical performer, it can’t and doesn’t do everything: but what it doesn’t do, you really don’t notice – which is a very neat trick indeed. How low can you go? In cost terms, a lot lower than you might think. A genuine slice of exactly what the high-end should be all about, it’s also one of the most visually and musically attractive products I’ve reviewed – irrespective of price.
