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Acoustically dead quiet, the L-4000 emitted mechanical transformer hum. On the same line, my ModWright DM 36.5 and Esoteric C-03 preamps are completely mute. Contrary to expectation perhaps, Allnic's orange mute LED must be on for sound to pass, i.e. mute is triggered with the light off [the far right LED in the below photo].

Once the power mains rocker on the left cheek fires up the L-4000, the frontal power button, by remote or directly, becomes the de facto on/off switch. The two current meters aren't mere lookers but confirm proper operation. With the needle to the left of the black lines, the E810F for that channel is failing; with the needle to the right, either the 7233 or 6485 voltage regulator tube is. While the owner's manual made mention of a polarity switch on the right cheek, my loaner didn't yet have one. This feature was very recently added to satisfy customer requests and dealer demands.


During the initial sound check, my remote automatically communicated with the preamp. When I formally installed the preamp for its audition the second time, it did not. After going through eight different charged batteries to no avail, I fully powered the preamp down for a 'reboot'. Voilà, now the remote responded fine. Allnic had code lock failure in the past but their supplier of the remote assured perfection of the latest batch of 1000. My sample misbehaved once but subsequent attempts over various power down/up cycles via standby and mains switches couldn't duplicate it. A single glitch then.

Using the remote was a breeze. Changing volume was naturally accompanied by a fine sewing machine whir as the clutched motor rotated position. To suss out sonics, I relied on my trusted FirstWatt F5 amplifier for resolution and linearity and my ModWright DM 36.5 linestage as direct comparator. Though the latter occupies two chassis, the American and Korean preamps share many design features. This includes transformer coupling, balanced i/o ports and vacuum tube voltage regulation. They're also somewhat price matched to be competitors. My new ModWright KWA-150 amplifier made appearances as well.


The L-4000
While in particular Kondo and Shindo preamps enjoy near mythical reputations, I never heard one. My yardstick was calibrated by encounters with Audiopax, Eastern Electric, Klimo, Melody, Octave, Red Wine Audio, Supratek, Thorens and Wyetech. When it came time to select a transistor preamp for ongoing review duty, I purchased Esoteric's C-03 as my 'activated passive' reference. Its very flexible gain options and elegant sonics make it one of the machines to beat. For valves, the big ModWright has been it. No preamp encounter has yet invalidated these two acquisitions. Nothing has solidly established the next level up though the Thorens came close. This by way of establishing context.

Kang Su's L-4000 turned out to be the ModWright's doppelgänger. Each time I had suspicions about some distinguishing differentiator -- was the DM 36.5 more lit up, the L-4000 more potent in the mid bass -- further A/Bs demolished them. Truly, the only differences worth mentioning are all functional in nature: one box vs. two, remote input switching vs. remote polarity, two XLRs in vs. paralleled RCA outs.


This makes Allnic's top preamp a highly competitive contender of the high resolution, wide bandwidth sort that underplays what are commonly thought of as traditional tube virtues. Harmonic tracking through subtle tone modulations is first rate. This simultaneously covers top-end extension, stunningly long decays and the audibility of recorded space.


Bass is taut but not overdamped to cover both rebound and bloom. Layering is rich and deep and voices exhibit a good portion of triode lock, that peculiar but instantly recognizable intimacy.


Dynamic tracking of small inflections caused by head turns, bow or lip or finger pressure, air speed or plucking vigor is high to enliven vocal and instrumental phrases with inner tension and expressiveness. This also equates to great low-level resolution for those dim-light late night sessions that require a gentle touch on the master volume.

In short, the L-4000 is tube in matters of space, layering and microdynamics. It is not fat, slow, warm, rolled off, soft, romantic or 'enhanced'. Tone color -- i.e. one obvious domain of harmonic distortion distribution -- isn't saturated to retain incisiveness on percussive attacks. If reaching for a valve preamp is equated with 300B effects, you won't get them here. For an unusual take on those, you'd want the Thorens TEP 3800. Neither does the L-4000 slow down pace to even subliminally turn the tunes more languorous or ephemeral. For that, the now discontinued Supratek Cabernet Dual would have been the one. In generalized tube amp terms, the L-4000 is more SEP than SET, meaning it retains some of the pentode bite to separate better and create greater fire in the treble. Again just like the ModWright. Besides the functional differences to the DM 36.5, the Allnic also offers more gain. And, it costs $1,800 more, not insignificant.