Huh, interesting…gotcha thanks! 
Allnic HPA-3000 GT – Rock solid!
First, I’d like to thank @M0N for the recommendation.
Thank you to @rgdelato for providing extra details about the amp.
Thank you to @Polygonhell, @Towa, and @Veritas for educating/answering about all things tubes. I’m still very new to tubes, but it was fun getting to learn more about them.
Chain
Holo Spring 3 KTE (USB / BAL) → Allnic HPA-3000 GT (BAL) → Focal Utopia / Sennheiser IE 900 / ZMF VC
Sound
Note
Going forward this will be my thoughts on the system as a whole. I feel like this will be more helpful because I don’t have multiple tube amps of similar tiers to directly compare nor a vast amount of experience with tubes.
General
The Allnic I find to be pretty dead-on neutral with just a touch of sweetness and more on the dry side of things. You get all the details without the disadvantages of an analytical character. It is a very capable amp, it performs as it should, and it lets the DAC do its thing–it’s solid!
Paired with the Spring, you get something holographic, dynamic (both macro/micro), detailed, black (background), and pretty much any of the adjectives audiophiles use. It’s a no-nonsense kind of amp with neutrality at its forefront but with a dash of tube magic. This is the first time I actually experienced something that sound holographic. With the Burson Soloist 3XP, you get a bit of stage but everything is still presented in a linear manner, meaning it doesn’t position elements as if they had “space” or distance between them. Listening to the Spring/Allnic/Utopia, I can actually hear one instrument/player placed closer than the other, for example.
If I were to put one weakness and one strength on this combo, I would say staging and bass based on my preferences. Staging is its weakness because I find it to stage a bit too much. I prefer a more involved and centered stage akin to being right in the middle. It’s like the Spring/Allnic puts you right in-between the balcony and the center. This isn’t really a downside but a preference thing, and I assume this has to do more with how the Spring 3 presents its stage. I mostly noticed this on the Utopia since it’s the most resolving/revealing I have. Bass, on the other hand, is its strength because I find it to be very authoritative while remaining very controlled and agile. It’s a very confident and full-sounding kind of bass, though I’m not sure if the amp or the DAC is the one responsible for this.
Synergy
Focal Utopia 
The synergy of this system with the Utopia is very good. Still very neutral with a hint of sweetness. Bass is very full and with good grip. Mids have loads of resolution and detail with good timbre. Highs are nicely extended and raw without the harshness. Staging and placement are also good, albeit a bit too much like mentioned above, and you also get that quality of elements sounding holographic. The whole system is a good match and I’m pretty satisfied with it. You can probably take the Utopia much farther of course, but this is a solid combo around this price bracket.
Sennheiser IE 900
Now…there’s a reason I put this second on the list. I was very curious how the IE 900 would sound on a tube amp and, to be honest, I was very paranoid that something bad would happen. Fortunately, I had confirmed it to be safe beforehand.
The IE 900 isn’t without its faults, of course. The treble can get a little hot at times, the upper mids are scooped out a bit, and the staging is a bit off. Pairing it with the Soloist, the treble is mostly tamed while the other two issues are still present but less bothersome.
Pairing it with the Allnic for the first time, I was floored! Honestly, I didn’t expect much but there were noticeable improvements all across the board. It didn’t tame some of the treble hotness but it extends so nicely and sounds so clean that I’m okay with it. The upper mids have been nicely filled up with very good detail and very good timbre. The staging is mostly fixed and the bass is so fun while being very technical, textured, and nuanced. The IE 900 is honestly a good value (with the right pairing), but unfortunate that most reviews undersell it imo. I guess it was pure luck that I stumbled across this pairing; I was genuinely surprised.
With all that said, I would definitely not recommend getting an Allnic just for the IE 900. But since I already have it, all the better. In terms of sound quality alone, the Utopia obviously beats out the IE 900. But in terms of enjoyment, I enjoyed it almost as much as the Utopia. It goes to show that synergy is king at the end of the day. What a pairing!
ZMF VC
Ever since I got the Utopia the VC has taken a back seat almost entirely. It’s still a great headphone (especially being closed-back), but to me, it doesn’t stand out in any one way. Anyway, in terms of synergy, it’s very good with the Spring/Allnic. I found out I didn’t like the VC paired with the Soloist (stock form) as it sounded too thick and colored, but with the Spring/Allnic that isn’t the case. The low frequencies gain a lot of grip and tightness, the midrange frequencies are nicely textured and full, and the upper frequencies are nice and sparkly. Timbre is also improved, blackness of background, detail/nuance, dynamics, staging… in other words, all the good stuff gets improved. It sounds great and there’s not much more I can say. I will note that I like the VC out of the low-impedance output, whereas I liked the Aeolus out of the hi-impedance output.
Miscellaneous
Manual: http://audiomentors.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/HPA-3000GT-manual-2최종3-10.pdf
Aesthetics-wise, the Allnic is very sleek and stealthy (I have the black one). It is a very handsome unit and one of the more aesthetically pleasing tube amps imo. The brushed metal look offers a nice complement to the Holo Audio aesthetics (all it’s missing is the copper lettering), but the Holo Audio stuff is still built and finished a bit better.
The tube silos are a very nice touch as it gives the Allnic brand a nice consistent and streamlined look. I was hoping at first that the tube silos would be pure glass but it is a plastic/glass compound mixture. I would have preferred the more premium feeling of pure glass but they probably did it for durability, which I’m totally fine with. Aside from aesthetics, these tube silos actually reduce heat by generating laminar flow and, in addition, guide the heat in a directional upward pattern instead of an omnidirectional one. I find that the Allnic does indeed stay pretty “warm” as I cautiously placed my hand over the silos and the transformers’ surfaces (not enough to cook an egg but still hot).
The side handles are also a nice touch—a very thoughtful and functional approach. They are mounted near the rear end since that is where the majority of the weight lies.
Let’s talk about the stock power cable…it’s crap! It’s thin, flimsy, and cheap. If you are considering this amp do yourself a favor and buy a solid, budget (or expensive) power cable as I was getting some noise and interference.
Wrap-up
The Allnic paired with the Spring is a solid combo and a system definitely worth consideration around this price bracket. It has good synergy with the Focals (Utopia & Clear) and the ZMFs (VC & Aeolus) provided you’re seeking for a more neutral approach and a tube amp tilting on the dry side. It’s a well-balanced system that pretty much disappears and lets the music do its thing. In addition, the stock tubes are already great so for those of you not wanting to put much effort into tube-rolling (like me) and want a plug-and-play balanced tube amp this is a great option. Overall, I am pretty satisfied (for now) with this system and am enjoying it quite a bit. The amp is simple, relatively compact, aesthetically pleasing, and less involved (in tube-rolling).
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@rgdelato have you tried the woo audio tubes yet?
It seems the stock tubes in my unit are a little problematic, so they’re sending me replacement tubes from the UK.
I still would like spares though so if you like em I’ll consider the woo ones.
I unfortunately haven’t yet, I’ve been waiting for my MYSPHERE to arrive so I can really hear the difference when I swap the tubes. (It was actually supposed to arrive yesterday, but FedEx claims I wasn’t here to sign for the package even though I work from home every day now. o.o)
But yeah, assuming the headphones arrive today, I’ll almost certainly try the tube swap this week and be able to report back.
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Also, a small aside for anyone else looking at these amps: I sold my Clears and sent back my demo MYSPHERE, so for the last couple weeks, my highest-tier headphones have been an Eikon and a Gjallarhorn. And they do sound good on this amp, but it’s really not worth it to get this amp for something like an Eikon in my opinion.
Figured I would mention it since I was exactly this person who was asking about upgrading my amp while still on mid-level headphones.
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All right, so I finally swapped out the stock Zenith tubes for the RCA tubes that I got from Woo Audio today. My initial thoughts are that the RCA tubes sound more “clean” and “clear” to me, but the difference is decently subtle. If I had to listen to this amp blind and guess which set of tubes I was listening to, I’m not 100% sure that I would get it right a full 10 times out of 10.
Another thing to mention again is that I bought my amp used and I have no idea how much use my stock tubes had on them before the amp made it’s way to me, so you might not even have the same starting point as I do for what you’re hearing if you got your amp new. (I bought my Allnic from a Head-Fi user and it arrived in a “The Music Room” labelled box, so I’m likely at least the third owner.)
That said, I think I’m going to keep the RCA tubes in here for now, I’m pretty sure I prefer them!
Some other notes:
- Swapping tubes hasn’t done anything to fix the low-level hum/buzz on the high-impedance output. It’s only been a couple hours of listening, but I’m not hearing any other issues with noise apart from what I was already hearing before.
- Woo shipped me the tubes attached to their included adapters and the adapters have a very tight grip. Getting the adapters off of the tubes was a pain.
- The type of screwdriver head you need is a 2.0 hex-shaped one to open up the tube shields.
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Yeah, the tube usage is likely a huge factor in all this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
My replacement tubes should be coming soon as well and they’re RCA-branded. Next time you need replacements or extras lmk because woo sells them for $250 but the dealer I’ll get mine from will sell em at around $35 (he buys wholesale).
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Quick tube question…
I just got my replacement tubes and one is not glowing as brightly as the other. Does that indicate anything?
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Probably not, pretty much all my amps have tubes that vary in how much they glow.
It offends my OCD, but doesn’t impact how they sound.
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Random note: I tried my recently-acquired Diana V2 on the Allnic’s high-impedance output and it doesn’t seem to exhibit any of the buzz/hum that the Eikon does. Figured I’d mention it! (Diana is lower impedance, but it’s also lower sensitivity.)
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I was going to post this along with some sound impressions of the replacement tubes, but the hum is now gone on my ie900. Still there on the utopia but much less. Both on hi-imp, low-imp no problem.
Must be something else at play here…
Also, interested in your thoughts on that pairing. Congrats!
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RCA tubes came in for me so some brief impressions…
Notes:
- These don’t have a base like the stock so they are shorter and a bit harder to grip when swapping.
- The uneven tube glow is messing me up. It’s like the difference b/w 100% brightness and 30% brightness. lol
Sound:
- These sound a bit sweeter in the top-end compared to stock. I don’t hear the treble hotness with the ie900 anymore.
- The midrange is a bit less weighty and pulled back, but a bit clearer and cleaner.
- Bass is a touch softer/polite but with slightly more texture coming through.
- Overall it feels like I’m getting a cleaner image throughout with more sweetness in the top-end. I assume it mainly has to do with the lessening of that hum which allows this. Makes sense. Lower noise floor equals higher fidelity. I do feel it is slightly more refined than the stock, but I think I prefer the stock as it was more engaging to me.
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My RCA tubes look unevenly bright from where I always sit, but I think it’s just the fact that they’re rotated in different directions. The spot where I sit in the room has one tube where the glowing element is pointed directly at me and the other is pointed like exactly away from me.
I kinda want to take a photo or video to show this off, but the difference in brightness from different viewing angles doesn’t really show up all that well on camera.
EDIT: To clarify, when viewed from above, my two tubes are basically the same brightness as each other.
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I hope yours isn’t as severe as mine. One tube is like the sun, the other like the moon. lol
Btw, does anybody know what those big old markers are in the tubes and what they’re for?
It’s like a thumb imprint completely filled in. A QC check marker, maybe?
Most tubes have identifying marks engraved into the glass in addition to stamps, they can be hard to see, and sometimes harder to actually decode.
Or are you taking about something else?
Pretty sure @hifiDJ is talking about these large dark marks (I’ve seen them on several other tubes as well):
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There is a youtube video on those, basically it’s where the cathode had actually sprayed matter against the glass, like electro plating, or how they produce mirrored surfaces the color varies based on the materials in use. My PSVane Acme’s have a mirror like deposit, the Special edition RK KR tubes have copper colored deposits.
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Yes, that’s what I was talking about ty. And ty for the pic @rgdelato
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I think that’s called flashing. I believe it’s part of the manufacturing process.
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Its called the getter. Here is the video you are probably referencing
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