About to get Allnic H-8000 DHT

LL21

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Thank you. I had the McIntosh before the T1s. My analog tube journey started in a Germany where I was stationed. I had Octave Audio MRE 130 Mono amps with Super Black Box and Octave HP500 Special Edition preamp Driving B&W Nautilus 800s. Upgraded to the Octave Jubilee preamp, and that’s forever. Wonderful music, but not enough drive for me as I love to play loud. Returned to the U.S., sold the Octave MRE130 and bought the MC2301s to drive the B&W 800s. Great combo but inefficient speaker and age of drivers led me on a speaker hunt for several years. Listed extensively to Audio Physik DUOs, MBL 101s, and Sonus Faber while in Germany. Just did not seem to tick all the boxes for me. In the U.S, listened to Klipsch Jubilee, Klipschorn, Cornwalls, Legacy Audio Aeris, Tekton Ulfehrts, Spatial Audio, and a few more that I forget. At the Capital Audio Fest, I walked into the Classic Audio Listening room and heard the T1.5s....I knew they were it for me. Now, the pairing with Atmasphere amps seem to be what John Wolff demonstrates as he is also a dealer of Atmasphete, but they sound great together. When John delivered the speakers to my house, we fired up the system, and he was highly impressed by the combination. They exude all of the superlatives paired with the MC2301s as one would describe with the Atmaspheres. I play music loud, not just for gemutlich low level listening, I like to hear it rock the room. The pairing with the MC2301 gives that to me. Low level listening, well, if you want it, then play low and sit back and relax. I do that but find at 98db efficiency, I still love to play loud. The vocals and realism of voices are just incredible. This I felt when I first heard them and feel the same. I am addicted to listening to the system every night after work because I have a performance onstage in my room every time I play a record.
Thank you! Very interesting story...we are at 93db efficiency here and totally get that desire for a 'performance onstage feel' that you refer to. Actually, we rarely play that loudly except for action movies, but it sure is fun when you want to drive the volume knob a bit! And you are well on your way to a perceived doubling of loudness of that (10db I believe is perceived doubling vs technical doubling which is 3x). Enjoy! Would love to hear the Classic Audio References.
 

ShawnZH

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Finally having H-8000 on my rack today, after quite long waiting. Supply chain is tricky these days. Just firing it up, leaving it on for a few hours and now sit back exploring the sound of Allnic H-8000. Did a brief audition a few hours ago right after the installation, it was not such a big WoW then. And now, the beast shows its teeth. Stay tuned...more to come.
 
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audioquest4life

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Waiting to hear you’re impressions.
 

ShawnZH

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Allnic H-8000 has been sitting on my rack for about a week now. Still not enough to give a full comment, but there’s something that I can share.

It is a very well built 2-piece phono stage with a very strong umbilical power supply cable in between the power unit and phono unit. Not too much to say about the features which are all listed on their website. As said above, the debut sound in my studio was not that impressive. It was a bit dry, but very quiet. I turned the unit on 24h for about 3 days and the sound was improving quite noticeably. I assume a 100 hours’ burn-in would be needed.

H-8000 is not a kind of “wow” gear, which impresses you in the first minute, not so even when it was improved significantly after the initial burn-in. I’ve encounter some “wow” equipment in my hifi years, however most of those could stay for a long time. I believe balance and neutrality are the essence of hifi. H-8000 is a very neutral sounded piece of phono stage. I guess it comes with the culture of Eastern Asia, not exaggerating but full of inner power.

I have an Amber cartridge, however unfortunately the stylus tip got some issues and I had to return and replace with a new one. Pity that I cannot drive an Allnic cart with the H-8000. Instead, I use MSL Platinum, VDH Colibri and London Reference with H-8000.

H-8000 gives me a very quiet and dark background from the 1 min though. I guess the power unit design has the credit for this. Overall speaking it is not a high gain phono stage. Though it was rated 74db for its MC inputs but it doesn’t sound like 74db at all. I wrote to the Allnic tech crew and they replied that it was actually 64db and they’re going to correct the specification.

The sound of H-8000 as said is very neutral, though in a full tube design, it doesn’t give you an overwhelming warmth. Instead, it is transparent, clean, full of details with a moderate level of warmth. It doesn’t remind you all the time how much muscle it has but when needed in those tutti moments, it can also give you deep bass , fast response and a crispy rhythm. Compared to my other phono stage, Thoress, it obviously gives more details, slam, micro-movements, and a broader and deeper soundstage. Thoress is warmer, a little bit blurred in details compared to H-8000 and a bit up-front. But I love Thoress a lot for its simplicity and quietness and also its sound signature.

The best fit so far is with MSL platinum with good level of details, scale and dynamics. It is interesting that with MSL 1030 Setp-Up into MM, the sound signature is very different from going directly into H-8000 MC. Well I prefer more the 1030 STUP but direct drive gives me a quite interesting experience with a different style but still good result.

London reference into MM is also quite good, I would say averagely good, not to a point impressed me a lot. I seem to prefer the Thoress MM amplification slightly more, which I feel can show better the sound feature of London reference, warm, layers of details. But on Allnic, the tweet sound more silky and smooth and the bass slam is more dynamic. I can easily tell Allnic to be superior in playback quality but i still like the warmth of Thoress.

VDH Colibri cannot play with Allnic at all. With is medium output and quite high inner imp, the output gain was very low and I had to turn up the volume too loud. Though according to Mr. Hervé from DartZeel, the DTZ pre-amp could be turned up pretty loud up to +11db, I still don’t like see the volume turning up too much.

I tried to roll 2 sets of tube on the H-8000 with what I have handy. I replace the 300B with a Full Music premium version 300B. It increases a bit the warmth, adding some density. And I replace the supplied 5U4G with Marconi CV 575. It gives a big step-up in improving all aspects with a fuller spectrum sound. I’m quite happy with the outcome of the tube rolling.

The Allnic dealer is sending me a Head-Amp, HA-5000 for a trial. According to the Allnic crew, the best combo is to use HA-5000 as a pre-preAmp to H-8000. It is similar to a step-up but not a step-up therefore no gain would be lost in the pre-preamp stage. With its +30db gain onto the 44db MM gain in H-8000, I assume it would be an interesting combo.

I’m also expecting my Amber to come back soon so that I could have a full Allnic setup.

Stay tuned...
 
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bonzo75

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Thanks for the report. I have heard the vdh Stradivarius sound excellent through the basic Allnic 1500 and the 5000. I listen to London Decca reference through Allnic 3000 regularly at a friend's place here in London, though he added a small impedance match box in the circuit. Montesquieu had the Allnic 7000 and thoress next to each other in his system, and ended up buying the 7000. Personally I think the thoress just lacks the flow musicality

I think the full music are not good valves. For 300b you should try elrog, KR, or Takatsuki from the modern valves. Of those I prefer the elrog, followed by the KR, though I haven't tried these in the Allnic.

Marconi is usually known to make great valves haven't heard yours. Allnic users have reported excellent results with the RK 5u4g (or KR 5u4g) so please try that and let us know.
 
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ShawnZH

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Thanks for the report. I have heard the vdh Stradivarius sound excellent through the basic Allnic 1500 and the 5000. I listen to London Decca reference through Allnic 3000 regularly at a friend's place here in London, though he added a small impedance match box in the circuit. Montesquieu had the Allnic 7000 and thoress next to each other in his system, and ended up buying the 7000. Personally I think the thoress just lacks the flow musicality

I think the full music are not good valves. For 300b you should try elrog, KR, or Takatsuki from the modern valves. Of those I prefer the elrog, followed by the KR, though I haven't tried these in the Allnic.

Marconi is usually known to make great valves haven't heard yours. Allnic users have reported excellent results with the RK 5u4g (or KR 5u4g) so please try that and let us know.

Thanks Bonzo for your reco.

Generally speaking, I feel H-8000 lacks a bit of gain to my system. I have to turn up the volume pretty big to get a satisfactory loudness level. My VDH is only 0.38mv output while Stradivarius is about 0.9mv, while the cart impedances are quite different between the two. Maybe one day I can try a Stradivarius. I really like the design of VDH. As for London Decca, it might be a personal taste and I’ll definitely give it more audition between the 2 phonos.

I have the full music handy so I didn’t buy it for H-8000. I use to have Elrog, Takatsuki for my AN Meishu 300B but I’ve sold those tubes after I sold the AN. According to Allnic Engineer, 300b rolling would give less impact to the playback quality. I may not want to spend too much money on the 300b, taking his opinion. I’ll try to find the KR 5u4g and hopefully can report back once I get a pair.
 

advanced101

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Doesn't the Built-in SUTs have a tap for 1:40, providing 32 dB of gain? Adding that to the MM stage of 44 dB that would give a total of 76 dB, the rating of the MC stage. They should show the total gain figures for each tap though in the specs. To get 64 dB of gain you must have been using the 1:13 tap.

Now I'm not saying the 1:40 tap is appropriate for your carts...
 

ShawnZH

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Doesn't the Built-in SUTs have a tap for 1:40, providing 32 dB of gain? Adding that to the MM stage of 44 dB that would give a total of 76 dB, the rating of the MC stage. They should show the total gain figures for each tap though in the specs. To get 64 dB of gain you must have been using the 1:13 tap.

Now I'm not saying the 1:40 tap is appropriate for your carts...

Thanks for the comments. First of all, the mm gain is 38 db instead of 44db. I've confirmed this with the Allnic crew. It was a mistaken specification on their website. As for a SUTs, the extra gain depends on the impedence of the cart. For example if you use a 1:40 ratio, you end up with 29 ohm load impedence and if the cart is 50 ohm (like my VDH Colibri XPW), the extra gain you could get is only 37% [29/(29+50)].

That's why I said that VDH Colibri XPW doesn't work at all since I would still get a low amplification even if I apply 1:40. And in reality, when driving the VDH, I had to turn on the preamp to a crazily high volume.
 

advanced101

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Sorry, at the end of your last post you mentioned 44dB, I assumed that was the correct value. 38 seems really low. I looked up the H5000 and the spec says 44 dB, interesting.

And you’re right regarding impedances. I take for granted the low impedances of the low output cartridges I have. Doesn’t sound like there is going to be a good SUT + vdh + H8000 option for you.
 
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bonzo75

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Sorry, at the end of your last post you mentioned 44dB, I assumed that was the correct value. 38 seems really low. I looked up the H5000 and the spec says 44 dB, interesting.

And you’re right regarding impedances. I take for granted the low impedances of the low output cartridges I have. Doesn’t sound like there is going to be a good SUT + vdh + H8000 option for you.

Having tried Allnic head amp with the 7000 I didn't like it with the Benz. Dcc tried various and ended up with consolidated audio SUTs. In the US you can get Slagle to wind you one for your specific requirement
 

bonzo75

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additionally my friend had an impedance box made by vertex aq in the UK that allowed him to dial in to 15k ohms for his Decca London reference while using with his Allnic 3000
 

cratin

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Sharing experience on H8000. I do have a dozen of friends using H3000, H5000 and H8000. And, none of them uses built-in SUT. Please, try their own head amp or find suitable SUTs. As for tube rolling, we were not able to settle on single ultimate rectifier or 300B. But, as other members have suggested, it will definitely change characteristic of sound... Keep trying... Good luck. Tried Ypsilon. IO & others famed phonos and you can be assured that H8000 is in another league if properly tuned i.e. isolation, tube, power cord, etc.
 

BruceD

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additionally my friend had an impedance box made by vertex aq in the UK that allowed him to dial in to 15k ohms for his Decca London reference while using with his Allnic 3000
You can avoid all the external peripherals --if you know a competent Tech --he can solder the required loading access the Decca Cartridge pins.
We used to do this with the Londons/EMTs /etc.

BruceD
 

ShawnZH

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Sharing experience on H8000. I do have a dozen of friends using H3000, H5000 and H8000. And, none of them uses built-in SUT. Please, try their own head amp or find suitable SUTs. As for tube rolling, we were not able to settle on single ultimate rectifier or 300B. But, as other members have suggested, it will definitely change characteristic of sound... Keep trying... Good luck. Tried Ypsilon. IO & others famed phonos and you can be assured that H8000 is in another league if properly tuned i.e. isolation, tube, power cord, etc.
I do use an external STU, MySonic 1030 with MSL Pl cart and it works very well. I attribute to the matching between MSL PL and MSL STU. I also tried the Allnic HA5000 headamp however I prefer the built-in STU since the H5000 somehow changes the sound character of H8000 and it also increases complexity. Rolling recti tubes does give audible improvements, while rolling 300B doesn’t give an equal level of improvement, at least to my experience.
 
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ShawnZH

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Sorry, at the end of your last post you mentioned 44dB, I assumed that was the correct value. 38 seems really low. I looked up the H5000 and the spec says 44 dB, interesting.

And you’re right regarding impedances. I take for granted the low impedances of the low output cartridges I have. Doesn’t sound like there is going to be a good SUT + vdh + H8000 option for you.
Hi there. The tech data sheet shows 44db however when I felt the 44db doesn’t sound to be at that level, I wrote to Allnic and they replied to me that it is actually 38db and they’re going to correct the data sheet.
 
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Tbzc

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Do you use RCA or balanced output? Sometimes there is a db difference in output, balanced is quite often 6db more powerful. I am wondering if this is a case with H8000...
 

ShawnZH

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T
Do you use RCA or balanced output? Sometimes there is a db difference in output, balanced is quite often 6db more powerful. I am wondering if this is a case with H8000...
Thanks for the comment. I tried to connect H8000 with XLR and it doesn’t change the gain compared to RCA. Though it is not a big issue for me about the gain of H8000 as long as I turn up the volume.
 

audioguy1958

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I do use an external STU, MySonic 1030 with MSL Pl cart and it works very well. I attribute to the matching between MSL PL and MSL STU. I also tried the Allnic HA5000 headamp however I prefer the built-in STU since the H5000 somehow changes the sound character of H8000 and it also increases complexity. Rolling recti tubes does give audible improvements, while rolling 300B doesn’t give an equal level of improvement, at least to my experience.
So you didn't like the HA3000 head amp? Or just not with the H8000 phono stage? I'm asking because I'm thinking about getting one for an A95. Or maybe an SUT. One or the other.
 

bonzo75

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So you didn't like the HA3000 head amp? Or just not with the H8000 phono stage? I'm asking because I'm thinking about getting one for an A95. Or maybe an SUT. One or the other.

I also didn't like the head amp on the 7000, preferred inbuilt, though had tried that with Benz LP. It might be cartridge dependent. When I tried it was unnecessary increase in macro dynamics but loss in overall balance and nuance. Dcc uses the consolidated audio SUT
 

audioguy1958

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I also didn't like the head amp on the 7000, preferred inbuilt, though had tried that with Benz LP. It might be cartridge dependent. When I tried it was unnecessary increase in macro dynamics but loss in overall balance and nuance. Dcc uses the consolidated audio SUT
Thanks for the info, I will probably get an SUT then. Too many variables with a head amp.
 

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