One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | B | Rega Elicit MK5 has more power - 105W against 75W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.5dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Hegel H150 the better fit for a small room, and Rega Elicit MK5 for a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Speaker load rating | A | Hegel H150 is rated down to 2 ohms against 4, so it is the safer partner for a low-impedance speaker. |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Streaming | A | Only Hegel H150 has Chromecast and Roon. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Rega Elicit MK5 takes more analogue sources - 4 against 3. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Rega Elicit MK5 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Price | B | Rega Elicit MK5 costs less - $3,345 against $3,600 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Rega Elicit MK5 is the cheaper watt - about $32 per watt against $48. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Hegel H150 B Rega Elicit MK5
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Rega Elicit MK5 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.