I am thinkin of upgrading my phono stages (Live! MC-10 SUT, Denon HA-1000 head amp, Magi Phonomeral phono pre).
I have SPU gold ref, SPU silver meister MKii, Denon D103r, Ortofon MC20-super, AT150mlx, and a few other super low MC Ortofon cartridges.
I wonder whether either of these Allnic phono preamps would outperform mine, or would it rather be a lateral move. Currently H-1202 sells at $2950 new and H-1201 sells at under $2000 used.
How much H-1202 is better than H-1201? I have tried to find out opinions on those two models, but haven’t been able to.
The only I got so far is
https://www.lotushifi.co.uk/the-new-allnic-h1202-phono/. According to the link,
Switching to the prewarmed H1202 and playing the same track I am afraid cliche number one was starkly apparent from the opening few bars. Everything was closer, more immediate, more tangible, just like those couple of bed sheets had just been pulled off the speakers. There was an instant sense that you are quite a bit closer to the actual grooves in the Vinyl. The H1202 is simply more of everything, more articulate with greater shape to all the sounds, tighter, taughter with fuller and more precise bass and the texture and timbre of instruments sounded more fully developed and expressed. Those snare hits and strident guitar chords near the end almost sounded like they each had their very own limitless amplifier as they leapt out of the mix with a huge amount of force allowing you to appreciate the dynamic power of the Etna in a whole new way.
Out of interest I switched back to the H1201 and ran the track again and sure enough, the outgoing unit now sounded dull, a little polite, a touch blurry and just less structured and dynamic overall. The sound in the room was also just smaller with less space and air in the entire performance.
That says a significant difference between the two. Any of you who has experience on those two Allnic models agree on the review?
