I gave it a quick read and its a pretty nice review. I don’t like that he compared a electrostatic headphone amp to a HPA-10000 unless the HPA-10000 can run e-stats headphones. Gave it a quick read, but will read the full review one day. I did skip to the ending and read a little more into details on that lol.
I liked the way he described the HPA10000. Honestly, this is what I think of the Allnic HPA-5000XL, but I never owned anything more expensive so I have nothing to compare to. But I think the HPA-5000XL is a pretty transparent amp with good technicalities as well. Maybe some color from the tubes, but it’s pretty transparent for the most part to me as it’s a clean-sounding amp.
I like the way he describes soundstage for the HPA-10000. I always like the Allnic HPA-5000XL soundstage, so it’s nice that the HPA-10000 soundstage is still impressive as well. For me personally, I like using this song Ikari - ReoNa to test out soundstage in 2023 just because there isn’t too many things going on in that song and there will be instruments jumping onto the stage and it gives me a good imagination on how the stage looks like in my head. I also just really like ReoNa vocals. On that song with the Allnic HPA-5000XL, vocals are at the same spot compared to the other amps. But for some reason, the instruments feel like maybe 1 foot further away from each other with the Allnic HPA-5000XL. It gives this illusion that the soundstage is bigger/deeper than it really is to me. The Allnic HPA-5000XL unique placement and soundstaging are probably my favorite aspects of the amp besides the Allnic amp being a clean-sounding amp in general. I hope the Allnic HPA-10000 keeps the same spirit of having a unique soundstage compared to other amps even in that price range.
The only thing I wish the review had was the preamp review. I think he only talked about how it is as a headphone amp and didn’t talk about its preamp features. The HPA-10000 is a headphone amp first and preamp later, but would really like to know how it performs as a preamp.
Not relating to the review, but I was pretty close to buying the Allnic HPA-10000. I was about $3000 off in buying it currently. So all I needed to do was either sell the Allnic HPA-5000XL or Supratek DHT preamp. I got a lot of offers (from USAM) for the Supratek, but they wanted $3000 or under and I still pay for shipping. I told them nope just because I didn’t want to let it go for $3000 to a stranger (and I guess their email came off a little strong when they wanted a lower price). I think it was a mixture of pride and I didn’t want to let the Supratek preamp go for that low (cause shipping was going to be expensive plus the Paypal Fees). I think around after I started using the Allnic HPA-5000XL around Christmas week and listening to my 248 “liked” songs for 2023 that I posted in the Japanese music thread, I kinda fell in love with my setup again lol. Then I started getting cold feet and came to a realization that $15K is a lot of money to blind buy on a amp to me lol. And even if I did get the Allnic HPA-10000 amp, I will get the feeling to upgrade my DAC to a $17K DAC just because I will get this itching feeling that the DAC is holding back the chain. And then I will get stuck in this cycle of upgrading my entire gear again and that’s something I realize I don’t want to do. Then around after New Years, someone posted used speakers more in the used sales thread and it reminded me that I actually wanted to upgraded my speakers since last August 2023 but I got distracted with headphones. Then I started reading more on speakers again and my interest shifted from Allnic amp to I gotta find my dream speakers. I think I feel very comfortable and satisfied being under the $10K range for my audio gear. Because I will need a year of saving to buy $10K plus stuff and its kinda hard for me since I have an impulse buying problem. I like buying stuff every few months. Heck, I even bought VIP Ado concert tickets for three people in December, Ado album cover songs CD from Japan, and other anime goods (a bunch of blu rays) I couldn’t resist buying in December. And thats not even counting all the presents I bought for people lol. That was pretty pricey. I think I would’ve maybe been very close to the Allnic HPA-10000 goal if the Ado fever didn’t happen in December. I am also very satisfied with my current setup and can’t really imagine how I can make it better besides getting better speakers. I was going to buy the Allnic HPA-10000 to satisfy a curious itch, but I realized its not worth it to me right now if I am satisfy with my current sound in my audio chain for at least the headphone setup. Back on topic, after I remembered that I like speakers more than headphones, I lost interest in headphones, thus making me lose interest in the Allnic HPA-10000 as its a headphone amp first and preamp feature was an afterthought. I might consider the HPA-10000 for the preamp feature if the price is lowered, but I think I rather buy an Allnic integrated amp or power amp.
Off Topic from the Review and more on me resisting the Allnic HPA-5000XL for almost a month:
I did kind of crack around Christmas week and I have been using the Allnic HPA-5000XL (alone with the DAC and no preamp) with the Susvara after like maybe 3 weeks of not using it. The Allnic HPA-5000XL drives the Susvara really well in terms of volume at least (didn’t really go over 50% in volume unless I wanted to play really loud). As how the Susvara performed with the Allnic HPA-5000XL, I don’t know as I never heard better amps besides the EF1000 Hybrid Tube but that was in show condition and I didn’t really care about the Susvara at the time. But remembering the EF1000 Hybrid Tube, it didn’t blew my mind. I will say the Allnic HPA-5000XL didn’t really blew my mind either, but it did still sounded really good in terms of clarity and bass. I also still got all the microdetails that I like from the Susvara, but the layering and imaging wasn’t there for me as I remember it when I first had it in Spetember. What really made me like the Susvara in the first place is its amazing layering and imaging that I didn’t quite get with the Allnic HPA-5000XL alone. The layering and imaging is good with the Allnic HPA-5000XL, but with the Supratek DHT preamp I feel like it went to the next level. It just feels so much easier to “see” the music with this combo vs with the Allnic HPA-5000XL alone. It really might be placebo as I probably in that “honeymoon phase” again since my old setup its technically a step up from my temporary setup in December. I also haven’t really explore the rest of my headphones again with my old setup, but I want to say right now that the Supratek DHT preamp help the HPA-5000XL go to the next level for me. Again, this might just be my honeymoon phase again.
the whole purpose to purchasing another amp is to see what it does differently w/ transducers I already own and love. 
