Sorry for the delay. Here's what I came up with.
Wishing to upgrade my vinyl gear, I purchased the Aphelion 2 cartridge and the MoFi phonostage. I thought long and hard about selling my Allnic H5500 and moving up the line to the H7000, but I wanted to hear a non-tubed phonostage that was well-regarded and offered a unique feature, 'current mode.'
My turntable is a Rega P10. I use DH-Labs Revelation balanced cables, but with Cardas balanced-to-single-ended adapters at the phono inputs. The MoFi can accept balanced cables, but the Allnic cannot, so I used the adapters for both.
Having both the Allnic H5500 and the MoFi Master, I’m running the balanced outputs from the Allnic, followed by the MoFi into the Wavelet II, taking advantage of the Bohmer room correction inherited in the Wavelet. The sound is well-balanced, extraordinary in dynamics while still being nuanced and gentle when called for. Both my wife and I have been enjoying this combination and continue to refine it when we have time. We split our listening between digital and vinyl, and although both formats sound equally great, I couldn't shake the nagging thought that I was taking an analog signal from the phono preamp and sending it to a DAC inside the Wavelet for room correction processing. Some might call that sacrilegious—myself included.
I began a break-in process with the MoFi, giving it perhaps 50 hours (not much, I know, but this turned out to be a long process), and then rotated between voltage and current modes. Between the two modes, I felt the current mode wasn’t a good match for my setup—it was awful—and I settled on voltage mode. Between the Allnic and the MoFi, I felt the Allnic had the edge in space with a touch of sweetness, a kind of bloom, while the MoFi seemed to offer a more precise presentation, though both were amazingly close overall. A quick switch between the two would have been ideal, but that simply couldn’t happen. A nagging feeling returned: the fact that there’s DAC conversion in the Wavelet. Perhaps I’m wasting my time—and yours—because I’m not properly comparing phono stages with a DAC at the end of the chain. I need to separate the powered bass section of my Aeris speakers, allowing for analog-only signals to play through the mids and tweeters.
The Wavelet is necessary not just to feed signals to the amplifiers embedded in the Legacy Aeris speakers, but also to process the room-corrected signal for which these speakers are known. It works very well, taming most of the bass reflections that occur in nearly all rooms. By using the integrated (Allnic 30th Anniversary) while bypassing the powered subs in the Aeris, I can use a preamp’s outputs to deliver the signals needed for both room correction in the subwoofer domain and analog signals to my integrated amp, bypassing the Wavelet DAC. Best of both worlds. Additionally, the pair of REL Carbon subs that arrived during this time were now able to use their high-level inputs directly from the amplifier’s binding posts—another big win.
Now, I’ve achieved the purity I was looking for. That’s the sound of an analog turntable, and it’s so much better in this configuration.
Going back to the Allnic phono stage, I noticed that the dynamic range now surpassed that of my digital setup. Purity too, the expression of music, the flow was just right. Often, I think of musical notes as timing—leading edge, trailing edge, speed, PRAT, whatever—but with my vinyl setup, it’s just how the music flows. Of course, it has those traits, but I don’t cling to those descriptors. It’s simply very immersive. This doesn’t mean my digital setup is obsolete; it sounds amazing in its own right, with much more to explore, especially given the expansive capabilities of the HiFi Rose 130, which brings music from around the world at your remote control.
Switching to the MoFi in voltage mode, I was hard-pressed to discern the differences between these two very different phono stages. The time spent switching cables made it difficult to localize the differences. Both sounded beautiful, and if I were to characterize the difference overall, I’d say the MoFi may be the most accurate in terms of separating notes—perhaps “speed” is the right term—while the Allnic just seemed to have a slight advantage in space, depth, and width, all while keeping the overall picture intact. I’m splitting hairs here, so let’s try the current mode, which I didn’t like initially.
OK, I get it now. In current mode, music is pushed out from the speakers. It’s bigger, with greater separation. It’s wider, taller, enveloping, and warmer. It doesn’t shy away from the details; it just presents them differently. They are there, but perhaps less noticeable in the overall picture. This worked well on some recordings, but I thought it was a bit much on others. I noted with Natalie Merchant's Paradise is There (The New Tigerlily Recordings), that the mid-to-low bass seemed a bit exaggerated, whereas David Gilmour's Luck and Strange recently released LP had no issues and sounded well-balanced. Zero 7’s The Garden showcased young Sia’s vocals very well.
Enter my wife. She can be brutal if she hears anything she feels is out of place. A great audiophile in her own right, if there’s anything she doesn’t like, she’ll let me (well, me) know—often followed by arguments about what should and shouldn’t be. Isn’t that what love is all about?
We started with the MoFi in voltage mode. She was happy with the sound, citing no negatives while appreciating a stable stage and smooth delivery. Switching to current mode, she really liked how “big” the music sounded, and if there were any issues with the bass, let me tell you, she’ll let me know. Again, current mode sounds amazing—just warms up the room with beauty while keeping the audiophile happy with the details. Then we switched back to the Allnic.
We sat back and listened as Luck and Strange continued to play. My brain reattached to the Allnic sound, which was balanced—not showcasing anything but presenting the music in such a way that it just sounds right. Analog at its best, based on what I’ve owned—though really not a lot, considering my nearly 60 years in this hobby. After a minute, my wife said, “Now this is the sound I like.” I said, “Can we let the song play through a bit before passing judgment?” Love. So we listened and thoroughly enjoyed the evening with the Allnic in charge.
I woke up this morning thinking about the differences between these two very fine phonostages. The MoFi still nagged at me, wanting another listen. Starting with the Allnic, I went back in, grabbing a few albums, including one with a song I’m very familiar with. First up was Robert Plant’s Shaken ‘n’ Stirred. The first track is called “Little by Little.” I find this track very well-recorded, extremely dynamic, giving so much air, playing so large and begging to be turned up to unreasonable levels. As a bonus, the bass guitar line descends from mid-bass to low-bass without being buried in the mix, nor is it featured (I gave the recording engineer a big hug). It’s impossible not to follow along, with its pace and rhythm, especially with the drummer at the back hitting his drum hard, which trails off into space. With 1000Wpc in each Aeris speaker, two 12” bass drivers, one passive radiator, and two REL Carbons, music often doesn’t get more immersive than this.
Playing through the MoFi in current mode, it did not disappoint. It was exciting and jaw-dropping at times, as had been the case with this song over the years. But now, I would say it played with even greater dynamic range and texture. The drums in the song were playing with more—not grip, we’re way beyond grip here—fullness and texture without bloat. These aren’t ‘deep’ drum strikes, rather just hard-hitting, and that bass line. I kept the album playing and discovered a new favorite, “Sister and Sevens” on the same album side. I had to play that track twice. I had to take a short walk after that. I then switched to Cello, an album called Three Wishes and a Rose, a Japanese pressing I purchased at an audio show. I’m no expert with these instruments, but I can say that playing both sides of an album with just a cello and piano (talk about extremes) was not something my patience would normally allow—but I got it. I understood how a cello could sound so textured and beautiful. I’ll play this again too, and I did for my wife.
Winner?
The Allnic wins in its ability to create a balanced landscape, not sounding at all solid-state. In true Allnic fashion, it gives you the best of tubes—sweetness without sacrificing anything else.
The MoFi wins in its flexibility, with voltage and current modes, and a third custom mode to tailor to specific cartridges, with no tubes to worry about. It didn’t hurt that in my system, current mode is addictive.
Summing up, which phono stage did we prefer: the Allnic H5500 or the MoFi Master phono?
My wife picked the Allnic, but she liked the MoFi as well. MichaelHiFi loves the MoFi but wouldn’t sell the Allnic except for another Allnic, maybe the H7000 or above.
I’m no expert here, I don’t have much experience with ownership of turntables or phono stages. The first turntable I purchased was my Technics SL1800 back in 1987 (still in play), followed by the VPI Scoutmaster and my Rega P10. I’ve also owned a PS Audio GPCH and a few other well-regarded phono stages that sold for perhaps half the price. I never warmed to either the VPI or the former phono stages I’ve owned. I am far from knowledgeable within this forum regarding this topic, so take it with a grain of salt. But these two I’ve been playing with are extraordinary to my ears. As I say in my signature, “a student of audio.”
