Allnic H1200 Phono Preamp

FeedbackListening Room There seems to be an explosion in the number of high end phono preamplifiers arriving on the market, and perhaps for good reason. Vinyl is making a major comeback, at least as a niche product, and at the same time it has been a while since any amplifier or preamplifier manufacturer included a phono input as a matter of principle. It’s obvious that the need is there. With a steady increase in the variety of turntables available, there is a corresponding market for phono stages.

The Allnic is from South Korea, the work of designer Kang Su Park. The brand name is derived from “all nickel,” and reflects the fact that Park has long championed the use of Permalloy all- nickel transformer cores. Indeed, Kang Su Park believes in the importance of the power supply. In the picture on the next page you can glimpse the transformer, which is relatively large for a low-current device.

Nor is that the only transformer on board. The front panel includes a switch for selecting an MC (high sensitivity) or MM input. Most phono preamps add extra gain for MC cartridges with an extra circuit (usually solid state, even in a tube preamp), but the Allnic uses a step-up transformer. With a Permalloy core, naturally. We have also received a standalone step-up transformer from Allnic, and we will be reviewing it in our next issue.

We should add that the workmanship on this unit is fully in keeping with the best standards, as is the choice of materials. This should go without saying on a product of this price, but we know all too well that we don’t dare take that for granted.

Allnic is very much a family enterprise, with family members assembling products by hand, and that extends even to winding the transformers.

Though the H1200 is not exactly an economy product, Allnic makes two other phono preamps, both larger than this one, and both with outboard power supplies.

It may not be obvious from the photo, but the H1200 is a tube product, just as it says on the front panel, using very small 6112 and 6021 twin triodes, two of each.

Our H1200 was brand new, and we ran it in nearly 100 hours using the Granite Audio burn-in disc. We then installed it in our Omega system, comparing it to our Audiomat Phono-1.5 reference.

We began with our often-used all- purpose LP, the Reference Recordings version of William Walton’s Façade, which includes so many instrumental solos that it could serve for equipment reviews all by itself. Certainly, there are no conceivable equipment flaws that won’t show up on this disc. When it’s reproduced well, on the other hand…

And the H1200 did reproduce it well, 38 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine with none of the instruments suffering from the strange anomalies we have heard all too often. We were impressed, and indeed Albert pronounced himself pleasantly surprised. The recording’s three-dimensional image came through very well, and the diverse instruments were reproduced with finesse. There was no sign of excessive shrillness, not even in the often difficult piccolo passage in the first part of the suite. The background was pleasantly quiet, as it should be.

Were the highs a little too polite, too rounded off? Gerard noted that the cymbals were a little discreet. “In the second section when the reeds come in,” said Toby, “there’s a nice mellifluous quality, but it has less drive. The attacks are less snappy, the clarinet a little more hollow.” We agreed that the tilt of the Allnic was different from that of our own preamp, and it was in the direction of smoothness. That is of course a quality, but we would see how things would play out with the other recordings.

There is no violin in Façade, or any other string instrument, but there is a particularly good violin in an old recording of Marco Uccelini’s Sonata e Corenti (still available on CD, we believe, on Germany’s Open Window label). The solo violin is perhaps the most realistic you can find on a recording, or so some violinists have told us.

The H1200 did very well with it, exhibiting none of the artifacts that one might fear. “The Allnic is the opposite of the bad phono preamp,” said Gerard.

However the music was certainly altered. Though the violin is, as mentioned, realistic, it is also quite close to the listener, and the Allnic pushed it farther away, making it seem therefore a little smaller. It still sounded plausible, with a gorgeous, resiny timbre, but a thinner, less rich tone. That is more in keeping with what you would hear from the audience perspective at an actual concert, though we believe it is not in keeping with the producer’s intention. “The musicians seem to play worse,” commented Toby.

The harpsichord, which can sound unpleasantly tinkly sometimes, had none of the usual flaws, though it seemed more coherent with our reference preamp.

Like the violin, the female singing voice is a challenge for the entire system, from source to loudspeakers. One of our long-time favorite singers is Ireland’s Mary Black, whose LP No Frontiers is always a riveting listen.

(And before you ask, no — we don’t know where you can buy one, even in CD form. We used to sell them back when Roksan was stocking them, but that was a long time ago. We have written to the producer, we have written to the supposed US importer, and we have written to Mary Black herself. No reply.)

We played the title song, and if we had not been making comparisons with a far more expensive reference preamp, we would have had nothing but praise. But of course we were making comparisons, because that’s the business we’re in. Mary’s voice was a little less explosive, but it remained expressive and gorgeous. Albert liked the great clarity of the lyrics: “You can make out the ‘t’ in ‘boat,’ and that isn’t always the case,” he said.

Toby focused on different syllables: the “s” sounds in “frontiers” and “eyes,” finding the always-present sibilance less natural, with a touch of glare in the highs. “But I liked the flow of the song,” he added.

We should stress that, although this recording is famous in audiophile circles (despite its long-time unavailability), it is a multi-track album, and it is a long way from the purist two-microphone production. However, under ideal conditions everything comes together to support the emotional impact of the songs. By and large that is what happened, but the somewhat greater distance decreased the magical richness. “Her voice is not as chesty,” commented Albert, who added a comment about light beer.

We moved on to the next selection. Of course male voices can be difficult to reproduce too, if only because we hear voices every day, and we can tell instantly if it sounds wrong. We put on Doug McLeod’s Master’s Plan from the Come to Find Audioquest album (AQ1027). This Blues number includes some excellent (and realistically-recorded) acoustic guitar work by McLeod himself, and clever lyrics that are worth hearing prop- erly. But hearing them is a challenge, furthermore, because McLeod often drops the final syllable of a line. At least it seems as if he drops it, though when the recording is properly reproduced you can hear it just fine.

Albert was delighted with what he heard, pronounceing this the best recording yet. “The remarkable resonance of the guitar is there,” he said. “McLeod’s voice has body, clarity and presence.”

Toby wasn’t so sure. “My cup was half empty,” he said. “It sounded less as though there were really a guitarist here in the room with us. The reason this song works so well is that it’s heartfelt, and this time there wasn’t enough heart.”

Yet it wasn’t that the H1200 was lacking in detail, quite the contrary. “Good as this LP is,” said Gerard, “it does have some faults, and in some passages the Allnic reveals them more than our reference does.”

We ended the session with a very old rock recording from the Golden Age of Vinyl. It’s the first (self-titled) solo album by Burton Cummings, after his work and his hits with The Guess Who. The song we chose is titled I’m Scared.

There’s a lot going on in this song — too much according to Albert, who didn’t care for the extended piano accompaniment by Burton himself — and the lyrics can easily be obscured, or even downright buried. We were surprised to hear that, far from being buried, the lyrics were actually easier to follow with the H1200. It wasn’t because it was introducing edginess or overemphasizing the top end, because — as we have no doubt established — it certainly doesn’t do that. There may have been a little less body to the accompaniment, therefore letting Burton’s voice through better.

Brand/model: Allnic H1200 Price: US$1600 Size (WHD): 13 x 10 x 25.5 cm Most liked: None, but really none, of the usual flaws of too many phono preamps, impressive quietness Least liked: A bit of exaggeration in its politeness Verdict: The antidote to overly brash analog, to say nothing of digital! Summing it up… These are aspects we discussed, before somehow getting into talking of other things. After that, there was a consensus that we ought to listen a second time to resolve uncertainties about what we had heard. “I was a little more ready to listen to the song the second time,” confessed Toby. “It’s a respectable performer, he concluded.

It is in fact more than just respectable. Its flaws — if in fact you choose to define them as flaws — make for a presentation in line with what many audiophiles are in fact searching for. Everyone we know wants to avoid turgid bass, shrill highs, and an overly forward presentation. Allnic has just what you’re looking for.

We’re also pleased with how quiet the H1200 is, quiet enough that when you switch over to the phono input from (say) the CD input, you can’t notice the difference from listening position. And that’s in a calm room like ours.

We’re looking forward to lending an ear to Allnic’s step-up transformer. We still own the long-discontinued Bryston TF-1 transformer. The TF-1 is actually the last such product we have listened to that wasn’t downright toxic.

We have our hopes up.

FeedbackListening Room

CROSSTALK

I don’t know what to say about a unit that does some things so well. And I mean so very well that you’re left wondering why it is not equally superb in other respects. It has a way of disappearing from the system, and letting the music through in such a transparent manner that lyrics write themselves, and complex textures separate smoothly into different layers of sound. But this clarity seems to come at a price. I was left wanting more in the mid to lower range, and in the solidity and substance of which live performers are made. However, considering that systems are vastly different, you may find those lacks quite minor and end up with the best this phono preamp can offer.

Lucky you. —Albert Simon

I have to give this preamp its due of praise. It has tonal complexity, detail and transparency. It can handle complex passages and keep the musical threads untangled. It’s quiet. It can please with all kinds of music. However on the Uccellini recording the musical interest dropped when things got softer. The Allnic is a lyrical-sounding unit, but the more “singing” sections of the cheeky Walton piece didn’t really have the dynamic flow they needed to contrast well with the jumpy bits. I found the Allnic’s performance respectable for its price, though, and I wondered if another power cord, a tube bias check or something else would have brought it a little closer to the magic of the (much costlier) reference.

—Toby Earp

When a phono preamp is not performing well, you probably know where to look — the top end. For reasons that have been explained in our pages before, high frequencies are a challenge for any system component, and that goes double if not triple for a phono preamp. The Allnic, I’m happy to say, passes that challenge admirably. Its highs are silky smooth, with no trace of the asperity, the graininess, or even the shrillness of lesser products. Is the smoothness overdone? Sure, any good thing can be overdone, and now and then I wanted a little more edge to the instruments, to the voices. Not too much, and that’s for sure. Our reference preamp nails this difficult balance admirably. The Allnic is a bit over on one side…the right side, but even so! This well-made tube phono preamp is not far from a neutral balance, though, and its civilized, sophisticated sound is in pleasant contrast to the brashness of too many preamps. —Gerard Rejskind

40 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine