I’m surprised that the Hegel isn’t working for you, the H590 is a top-flight integrated, with excellent amplifier, preamp and DAC sections. You bought it because you thought you were missing something with the Mac gear, so just going back to Mac may not give you what you’re looking for either.
As others have said, the speakers are a weak link - by switching from a Mac to Hegel you may have just moved from highlighting one shortcoming to highlighting another one. The Hegel may be more neutral than the Mac gear, which may have been compensating for the speakers’ shortcomings. I also think you might try upgrading the digital front end first to make sure you’re not shortchanging the Hegel by feeding it from a pc. The Hegel DAC should be very good, so if there’s any way you can try the Lumin U1 first, that might be a good starting point.
But as John Jordan points out, if you haven’t already, make sure you have at least 100 hours on the Hegel.
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Tony
D'Agostino Momentum S250 MxV & HD pre; Linn Klimax Organik DSM, SonicTransporter, EtherRegen; Acoustic Signature Typhoon Neo, Koetsu RSP, Boulder 1108; Sf Il Cremonese; Shunyata Everest, Altaira, Sigma & Alpha v2
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