Up to 37% in savings when you subscribe to hi-fi+
hifi-logo-footer

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Allnic Audio H-5500 phono stage

Allnic Audio H5500 phono stage

In the grand scheme of audio, there are some double acts that are hard to beat. Depending on which side of the Atlantic you come from, one of the best is either called, ‘vinyl and valves’ or ‘turntables and tubes’. From both a philosophical and sonic perspective, there’s something just so intrinsically right about using two technologies that should be a generation or more out of date and yet steadfastly turn in the sort of performance that sets standards. While there is something of a parallel in photography (a manual focus Leica rangefinder with a roll of Ilford FP4 or Kodak Tri-X is still relevant in some schools of photojournalism and street photography), no other branch of consumer electronics respects the old ways quite like audio. And few express that respect so well as the South Korean company, Allnic Audio.

Allnic’s new H-5500 phono stage (which replaces the popular H-1202 in the line-up) is designer’s Kang Su Park’s entry-level model in a three phono-preamp range. It’s important to get that out the way early into the review because you’ll never, ever, be able to say ‘entry-level’ about a phono preamp like the H-5500, and while this model is effectively a revised version of the H-1202, from look, feel and performance standing this is a more upscale proposition.

Allnic Audio H5500 black

The obvious change is the exterior. The original H-1202 was a stubby design; still a very well-produced and solid piece of work, but the H-5500 adds some extra width to the all-aluminium chassis and includes styling cues from other models in the Allnic preamp line. More than that, however, it gives the H-5500 more of a solid look and feel that makes it fit right in with any 19” audio equipment, something the H-1202 lacked a bit. In addition, the H-5500 features the meter/valve diagnostics front panel meter and the iron/nickel Permalloy-core step-up transformers from the top H-7000 and H-8000 models, as well as a higher-spec power transformer. However, the H-5500 retains the zero feedback, pure Class A circuit design of its predecessor (no bad thing, as moving to an LCR or Directly-heated triode – DHT – phono stage would significantly increase the cost of this model).

There’s a tidy amount of flexibility in the H-5500, as it comes equipped with two MM and two MC inputs (twice the number found in the H-1202), so those with decks that sport multiple arms need not invest in multiple phono stages. Moving coil load settings are adjusted with two pots that stand proud on the back of the top plate. These settings are each locked to a specific gain factor; while some would prefer to adjust load and gain independently, in reality there is a lot of sense in doing this, as most 278Ω loads are going to be ‘high-normal’ gain, and most 29Ω cartridges are likely to be quite low gain. Given there is 40dB of gain as standard and the settings allow for up to 32dB of additional gain, this allows for some seriously low output cartridges to be used without any significant intrusion of hiss. There is one adjustment tower for each channel, but the setting will need to be adjusted each time you change MC inputs. Given the sheer number of inputs, having a choice of EQ settings beyond RIAA might prove useful, however.

In a way, that notion of audio ‘respecting the old ways’ holds truer in the H-5500 than it does with most ‘hollow-state’ devices; Allnic uses four ‘NOS’ E180CC double-triodes in the circuit. These are valves that show how KS Park is not simply following well-trodden circuit designs from the 1950s and instead has investigated the best devices for the job. The E180CC was developed for post-war, pre-transistor computer circuits back in the day when a country was at the cutting edge if it had more than one computer. Allnic bought thousands of these devices, and while that ties you into having to go to the manufacturer to source new valves should these devices fail, the chance of failure is almost zero (their original intended use meant they were designed with a 10,000 hour heater lifespan, as no computer engineer of the early 1950s wanted to wade through thousands of tubes in hundreds of electronic ‘gates’ to find a blown tube every time that UNIVAC 120 was powered up). Alongside the four E180CC, the H-5500 features a 7233 voltage regulator and 5654 voltage correction tube, all held in clear tubes with aluminium vented tops, which is a neat way of getting around modern safety requirements without ugly cages and the like.

Allnic Audio H5500 top down

The ‘respecting the old ways’ concept naturally has a safe haven in a vinyl and valve front-end, but the Allnic is unapologetically retro in sound too, and I think that’s a good thing. People have come to love vinyl for its satisfyingly ‘un-digital’ warmth (even, paradoxically, when the LP is cut from a purely digital recording), and the H-5500 brings that warmth out in a charming, truly enjoyable manner. Granted, that probably means those who want that forward, upfront sound found in many modern systems are unlikely to be Allnic customers, but on the other hand, those who find that sound too upfront and shiny will find a heck of a lot to like here.

The first element that hits you with when listening to the Allnic H-5500 (after a good 50+ hour run-in) is the imaging, and especially the image width, depth and the positioning of instruments within that image. This sounds extremely natural, too; even when the soundstage is generated by reverb and pan, it makes a fine approximation of soundstage spacing, and when the stage is generated acoustically – such as with the overture to The Pirates of Penzance [D’Oyly Carte, RPO, Isidore Godfrey, Decca SXL] – the sound is pin-sharp precise, with the sort of ‘walk in and around the soundstage’ holography that is at once hard to find and so enjoyable when you do.

Perhaps more importantly, and again sticking with the same recording, there is so much going on and all of it is portrayed in a real-life way. This is a classic Decca Tree recording, so you are never going to hear the sort of string squeaks that you get from placing a microphone inches from the soundboard of a violin, but instead you get a sense of the instruments reacting to how they are played, with very small changes in level and tonality that show both the quality of the musicianship and the reason why many of these recordings remain the benchmark in recording quality some six and a half decades after production.

Moving around the record collection elicits the same response. The grooves and the tracking of the cartridge give up before the H-5500 runs out of dynamic puff; even notably thin but powerful rock recordings like ‘Prime Mover’ by Zodiac Mindwarp and The Love Reaction [Tattooed Beat Messiah, Vertigo] benefit from the Allnic’s ability to get out of the way of the music, its exceptional detail and its overall warmth and rich sound, and the space it creates around the instruments. This is a typical late-80s Bill Drummond (of the KLF) recording, full of sound and fury and a lot of over-the-top pomp, but it stays distinctly on the right side of listenable even today… and that’s quite a feat.

Actually, the more you dig deeper into the Allnic H-5500’s performance, the more you realise that making even toppy 1980s recordings sound listenable is perhaps the best expression of what this phono stage does so well. It’s almost incapable of sounding bad, and I think you’d have to go really far (like playing K-Tel records on a broken record deck) to get a bad sound from this phono stage. This is the phono stage for That Guy… the one who is pathologically opposed to LP replay. Put almost anything on the turntable and play it through the H-5500 and their resolve will melt. And put something good on – like ‘Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me’ from This One’s For Blanton! [Duke Ellington and Ray Brown, Pablo] – and you could mint yourself a new vinyl enthusiast.

Allnic Audio H5500 rear

Yes, the Allnic H-5500 needs a good turntable and cartridge to bring out its best, but that ‘best’ echoes a lot of what many people would consider an ‘ideal’ in the way a good vinyl replay system is supposed to sound. This phono stage is a constant and consistently-enjoyable reminder of just why you got into vinyl in the first place. If you take LP seriously, you owe it to yourself to hear just what it is capable of, and the Allnic H-5500 can do just that.

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • Type: MM/MC valve phono stage
  • Inputs: Moving Coil (MC) x Two pairs unbalanced (RCA). Moving Magnet (MM) × Two pairs unbalanced (RCA). Ground
  • Outputs: One pair unbalanced (RCA)
  • Tubes: E180CC (x4), 7233, 5654
  • Frequency Range: 20Hz–20kHz ±0.3dB
  • Voltage gain settings (at 1kHz): +38dB (MM), +22, +26, +28, +32dB (MC)
  • Input Impedance: MC variable up to 280Ω; MM 47kΩ
  • Maximum Input Voltage: (MM, non-clipping): 20Hz/30mV, 100Hz/60mV, 1kHz/300mV, 10kHz/500mV
  • THD: Less than 0.3% (1kHz, Output 1V)
  • S/N Ratio: -68dB (CCIR, 1kHz)
  • Finish: Black, aluminium
  • Dimensions (W×H×D): 43 × 26 × 17cm
  • Weight: 8.2kg
  • Price: £3,750

 

Manufacturer: Allnic Audio

URL: allnicaudio.com

US Distributor: Hammertone Audio

URL: hammertoneaudio.com

Tel: +1 250 826 6872

UK Distributor: Lotus Hi-Fi

URL: lotushifi.co.uk

Tel: +44(0)788 785 2513

Back to Reviews

 

Tags: ALLNIC AUDIO H-5500 PHONO STAGE

Adblocker Detected

"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."

"There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..."