Allnic Audio L-8000 DHT Preamplifier
This spectacular, $22,900 audiophile work of art came to me as a stop gap between distributor and dealer. Victoria is not exactly midpoint between Kelowna BC and Portland OR, but I was very grateful to distributor David Beetles of Hammertone Audio and US dealer John Ketchum of Kevalin Audio for their kind consideration. As such, the L-8000 DHT Preamplifier was here for a good time, not a long time.
Beetles has been slowly tormenting me with better and better Allnic Audio products to review, which I’m happy to accept on behalf of myself and our readers; a couple of which have been generously given on long term loans (H-7000 and L-7000) to use as references in my system. So, with full disclosure, I offer you my unencumbered story of what is probably the finest and certainly most expensive component to have graced my listening room.
My reference $16,500 Allnic Audio L-7000 Preamplifier would be a wonderful addition to any high end system. It imbues both digital and vinyl with absolute control and glorious sound. So, what does a $6400 premium get you investing in an L-8000 (a Direct Heated Triode design) above the L-7000 (a single gain stage, transformer coupled preamp using the 300B as a voltage regulator—a completely different beast)?
To be frank, I heard what the L-8000 gave immediately out of the box. Cold with only a few bench hours on the unique, vintage tubes.
As you read the rest of the review, we’ll imagine the $22,900 L-8000 DHT Preamplifier as ‘aspirational audio’. Aspiration should be both inspirational and fun (I dream of owning an Aston Martin daily). With that in mind, let’s talk.
Features
The L-8000 DHT is the successor to Allnic’s L-5000 DHT, the world’s first commercially produced, pure DHT preamplifier.
All signal circuits with DHT (Direct Heated Triode)
Line output transformer coupling
No negative feedback design
Advanced tube technology voltage regulation
61-step Silver Contact Constant Impedance attenuator (with metal remote)
Let’s give Allnic some space to describe designer Kang Su Park’s journey and discovery of a superior DHT circuit:
In the early years of the last century, the directly heated triode (DHT) was invented independently, and almost simultaneously in the USA and Austria. This simple device, an anode, a cathode and a grid in a vacuum contained in a glass bottle, transformed the world.
Allnic’s Kang Su Park has spent a lifetime studying and designing circuits and transformers for use of DHTs in audio reproduction. Park has questioned basic assumptions about DHTs, re-examined variations of DHT circuit designs, researched and experimented rigorously.
Park successfully combined elements of what he learned and invented over decades to the development and production of a pure, direct heated triode (DHT) based preamplifier: the L-5000. The main breakthrough was the design of a circuit, valve and transformer combination with astounding measured results.
With such an unprecedented superior outcome for the circuit design, Park could not be satisfied placing a DHT stage after one or two stages using indirectly heated triodes. That approach is used in a number of commercially available preamplifiers using DHTs, but it is a compromise. It does not result in pure DHT amplification. It introduces the characteristics of indirectly heated triode sound into the circuit. The output DHTs are only amplifying a signal already determined by the initial stage indirectly heated triodes. In contrast, Park created a preamplifier that uses DHTs at each amplification stage.
Tube compliment is: 3A/110A x 2 (1st gain stage); 3A/109B x 2 (2nd output-gain stage); 7233 x 2 (voltage regulator); 5654 x 2 (voltage error detector). The 3A/110A and 3A/109B triodes were manufactured in the UK by STC, Standard Telephone and Cables Ltd. from 1925 up to 1945. The 7233s and 5654s are NOS.
Specifications
Inputs: 3 x RCA, 2 x XLR
Outputs: 1 x RCA, 2 x XLR
Input Impedance: 10k ohms (RCA, XLR)
Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz flat, 16 Hz to 75 kHz (-3dB)
Voltage Gain: +18dB
THD: 0.06% at 0.3V, 0.16% at 1.0V
Maximum output: 20V RMS (non clipping)
Output impedance: 120 ohms
Power consumption: 30W
Dimensions: 430mm W, 351mm D, 211mm H
Weight: 19.1 kg
The many advanced technical features Park adds to his flagship DHT design include soft start circuitry, Permalloy output transformers, line output transformer coupling (compared to much cheaper capacitor coupling), and specifically for this DHT design with its almost 100 year old, specialist tubes, Allnic’s patented ‘Absorb GEL tube damper’ technology. These gel dampers prevent harmful vibrations from reaching the signal/gain tubes and prevents microphonic noise.
The dampers (the top part looking like a prophylactic wrapped tightly around its tube!) did a splendid job; microphonics are never heard during regular playback. But the 100 year old telephone repeater tubes used in the circuit can be heard making themselves known if you volume up quickly on the remote with a quiet yet harmonious ‘zing’ that disappears almost immediately. An idiosyncrasy accepted happily considering the audio bliss these wonderful tubes offer.
Allnic’s gorgeous tube chimneys with Faraday Cages, proprietary tube gel damper technology and 61 step attenuator (blue box) with Permalloy transformers.
Sound
I referenced the opening gambit of the L-8000 DHT earlier. Its musicality was so clear cut, the three or four LPs I played had me close to tears. This was timbral truth I was hearing in my room unaffected by artifice, the flow of electrons or design shortcomings. Park really has cracked it. A full on DHT design with zero compromises. Worth the $6400 premium over the 7? Sure thing.
So, what was different than the already expensive and wonderful L-7000? Can you imagine living with repertoire for fifty plus years, playing it, conducting it, studying it, eating and sleeping the damn stuff, and still managing to be so moved by something new, something magical? The audio cynic in me was asking a lot of questions. As I choked up.
But there it was, the slow movement of the Jupiter Symphony, with Mozart weaving magical spells in the violin opening melody and daring us not to cry at the utter genius of it. The L-8000 allows more magic in. Simple. You’ll get more sweetness, more event space, better imaging and the aforementioned timbral accuracy, which to my old musician ears is super accurate.
This went on all morning.
Later in the month and after many hours of listening, the magic spark was still there, poking at me this way, tugging another. Yet, the auditory system is a cruel mistress, at least in audiophile terms. In fact, most neurological systems are too soon to forget. I had a cataract done a year ago after the blur was getting too much. As soon as the bandage came off, it was if I had X-ray vision. 8K clarity. It was amazing. A day or two later, meh. Back to the standard here and now. If only we could maintain that new car smell.
Happily, your $22,900 will maintain your musical spirit far longer than an initial thrill. But, you won’t soon forget those first fabulous moments.
Fortunate purchasers, as you settle into your new level of sonic excellence, once in a while the L-8000 will remind you of the thoroughbred in which you have invested. A perfectly placed viola section or solo, a trumpet sitting above and behind the bassoons with the sound floating above the rest of the orchestra (not ‘pinpoint imaging’, which is only the beginning moment of the the ‘real thing’), or an X-ray, meant in the the nicest possible terms, dissecting the multi tracks of Cat Stevens in his or his producer’s search for a ‘rich voice’.
The tessituras blend seamlessly, yet each one maintaining the recordings’ characters. Chicago Symphony Hall in the late ‘50s or Kingsway in the ‘60s are recognized too easily—barrel shape reflections in the Windy City, bloom and float in Londinium. As for poorly recorded releases, both vinyl and digital? The L-8000 is a harsh mistress.
With excellent digital gear (I’m blessed with MBL and Mytek HiFi references and an Innuos long-term visitor), the beautiful sweetness and transparency of the L-8000 can add much to the sometime two-dimensional digital image. In no way does it add coloration, but it allows the inherent strengths of the topology such as immediacy and clout to shine.
I’ve never heard ‘Dead Already’ from Thomas Newman’s American Beauty soundtrack sound so effortless (along with a powerful MBL amplifier, there is nothing the pair could not achieve). It’s my get-out-of-jail digital demo track. Once heard, people buy it just for the wow factor. Great music, too. There are so many percussive layers with instruments whizzing over hell’s half acre, and with crushing bass. Play it at your peril. FLAC or CD, no mind.
Summary
The romantic in me could not help but give the L-8000 DHT Preamplifier a Star Component Award. Sure, it has one or two idiosyncrasies and is very expensive, but the musicality and sound make this aspirational component worth the price. And the Star. But, be warned, once heard, the L-8000 cannot be unheard. Very highly recommended.
Further information: Allnic Audio
