I bought a new phono stage myself about a year and half ago and ended up with the H-1202. I’ve heard a lot of great phono stages through the years and auditioned several more in the process of making a choice, but for me the Allnic was the one which stood out. It wasn’t the best, but for me the EQ-500 (which did take the top slot) didn’t offer nearly sufficient improvement to defend the huge difference in price.
I also listened to the Herron and while it’s an outstanding piece for the price, I simply preferred the Allnic. The Herron was exceedingly clean and neutral, more like a really excellent solid state stage, while I found the H-1202 to be equally competent, but with just the right amount of tube DNA to hit my personal sweet spot. A little extra sweetness, a little more body, a little more magic and no discernible downsides.
For this you give up the infinite adjustment which the Herron offers by way of it’s loading plugs, but that was a non-issue for me. The lack of tube "magic" could no doubt be ameliorated through tube rolling, but I have no interest in spending months, years and thousands upon thousands of ...(insert currency)... on re-discovering what the Allnic already provided out of the box.
My personal opinion is that if you want a tube phono stage, these two offer the best performance/price ratio - by a country mile. You give up very little sound quality compared to the very best, for a price that could almost be called moderate.
If you want one that is exceedingly neutral and infinitely flexible, the Herron is a no-brainer. If you want to hear that tubes are involved right out of the box and have no need for infinite fine-tuning, the same is true of the Allnic.
Better phono stages are certainly available, but unequivocal improvement will cost you big-time.