Founded by Kang Su (“KS”) Park, Allnic Audio is based Sungnam City, South Korea. In the early 1990s, Park started Silvaweld, known mostly in Asia and Europe for its single-ended (SET) tube amplifiers. In 1997, he founded Allnic Audio. That company is named after the term “all-nickel-core,” a class of magnetic alloys constructed of nickel and iron that includes the alloys contained in many of its output transformers.
Whatever Park designs, you know that it will be something that’s off the beaten path and deemed by others to be too expensive or difficult to perfect. Here, we have Allnic’s stunning H-5500 phono stage, which I recently auditioned and photographed. It features a pure Class A, no-negative-feedback design, two pairs each of MM and MC inputs, permalloy transformer cores, selectable load settings, single-ended outputs, and a very cool looking current meter to monitor tube status. The tube complement comprises four NOS E180CC twin triodes for signal amplification and one each 7233 and 5654 for the power supply.
Takeaway: in addition to auditioning the H-5500 phono stage, I’ve reviewed Allnic’s L-9000 OTL/OCL preamplifier and found both to be outstanding. I have spent a number of late nights speaking with KS Park in Korea and I each time I walk away from the conversation amazed at all of the insights that he has generously shared. I am authorized to announce that there will in the non-distant future be a very exciting and unexpected announcement coming from Allnic, which will be the subject of an exclusive video on my YouTube channel, “The Listening Chair with Howard Kneller.” Stay tuned!
The H-5500's understated front panel.
The H-5500 can accommodate two moving coil and two moving magnet turntable/cartridge setups.
The unique controls allow precise gain matching for moving coil cartridges.
The front panel includes a current meter for monitoring tube status.Howard Kneller’s audiophile adventures are documented on his YouTube channel (The Listening Chair with Howard Kneller) and on Instagram (@howardkneller). His art and photography can also be found on Instagram (@howardkneller.photog). Finally, he posts a bit of everything on Facebook (@howardkneller).
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