[GiullianSN]

WARNING: This one’s gonna be very word-heavy and pic-light. As many plaudits as my photos have thankfully received, my documenting instincts are some of the worst you’ll ever find. So, there won’t be many pics of what went down, but I’ll make sure to do my best visualizing as we proceed.

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After 2 years of local isolation, I was finally able to fly out and attend 2023’s CanJam Singapore. A lot’s changed in that time. I retired from reviewing, my interest in in-ears isn’t what it used to be, and with a wedding on the way, I can’t spend as much as I used to. So, for me, this was gonna be a show I attended not for THL, not for my collection and certainly not to maintain any sort of vain, influencer status. This was gonna be one for the people - for the connections I’ve made and wanna make - and what better time to do it than the year the Watercooler crew decided to come to town.

Just months ago, it was a pipe dream on Head-Fi. Then, weeks ago, it became a tiny, eager WhatsApp group. And, before I knew it, I was headed to the Kith Cafe at Ascott to meet face-to-face with the SEA Watercooler contingent; a bunch of profile pics and usernames I’d seen countless times on a computer screen, who were about to, as strange as it may sound, materialize into real human beings… and what wonderful human beings, they all were.

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Sitting down at that table, shaking hands, swapping gifts and Jim handing me the wooden name tag he so generously had made, I instantly knew I was in for a great time. Between silent, focused listening and light-hearted, laugh-filled chats, the warmth, camaraderie and, just, fun was palpable. Between us, the Subtonic and Nightjar folks, the people they brought… there wasn’t a bad apple in the room. I was having a blast. Oh, and we listened to a fair amount of great stuff too. Let the impressions begin!

Subtonic STORM

Subtonic’s STORM has received as much hype as controversy. Those fortunate enough to try it early called it the best in-ear they’d heard, and those who bet their hard-earned money on those impressions have had to wait nearly two years for their orders to arrive. Now, in a room with not one, not two, but three Subtonic Storm’s, I finally got a chance to hear it for myself.

Subtonic’s Storm had some of the best technique I’d heard in an IEM. Transients were as clean as I’d heard them, so notes popped in and out with stunning speed. And, they pulled off this tightrope act whilst keeping that tonality plate spinning, so kudos to them there. With the stock, 2-wire Mira cable, it had a neutral-ish tone with a lower-midrange that could lean slightly dry, along with a treble that could glare - shimmer - every once in a while. But, this was the exception; not the rule. It fulfilled its promise of projecting like near-field monitors. Its notes were on the larger side, and they were nearer to me than the outermost reaches of the stage, which, on the 2-wire Mira, felt naturally-sized; neither boxed-in, nor artificially stretched. But, again, because of its razor-sharp transients and immense speed, resolution was light work for the STORM. It felt like you could analyze each microsecond of each bar, and it’s a great set if analysis is your pastime. And, of course, I’d be remiss not to highlight its bass, which, though short of a quality DD, was among the best I’d heard a BA thump, in no small part due to its clean sub-bass shelf.

Now, the only way I can critique the STORM is subjectively; personally. Despite all its technical accolades, it wasn’t an in-ear that necessarily moved me, whether for listening or for work. It lacked a bit of groove - sway - for my recreational use, and I could’ve done without the slightly-sandy notes the ESTs gave the mid-treble. Then, it was a touch too clean and dry for me to mix or master on. I tend to prefer a little warmth there to stave off fatigue, and the STORM sounded like a tool to check mixes with than to mix with. To me, the STORM was like one of those high-FPS TVs at tech stores. They always get a stop, a stare and a “Whoa, cool,” out of me, but nothing more. At the same time, to someone else, they could be the key to completing their endgame theatre system. So, it’s an IEM I heavily respect, and it’s one I can see its target demo loving. It wasn’t the one for me, but I can safely say that it deserves its seat (even the throne) at the high-end table for sure.

As a side note, the STORM was also one of the most malleable IEMs I’d ever heard. It tip-toed between calm and assured on my LPGT, then boisterous on my N6ii Ti. I was able to push it all the way to ultra-wide, ultra-airy and ultra-clinical with Nightjar’s upcoming flagship cable, while the PW Audio Orpheus hilariously turned it into my JHA Sharona. My jaw was on the floor, how similar it was. But, in the end, I felt the default 2-wire Mira gave it the finest balance between cutting-edge technique and natural-ish delivery.

Nightjar

Also in attendance was Chang from Nightjar Acoustics, who, similar to Symphonium Audio, somewhat reside under the Subtonic umbrella. They’ve only made IEM cables thus far, and I reviewed their flagship Mira fairly recently. But, it’s no secret that they’ve been trying their hand at developing IEMs as well. Chang brought 2 DD-equipped prototypes to the meet - the 1-DD Singularity and an unnamed 2-DD we’re tentatively calling the Duality - and it’s safe to say both were some of the weekend’s absolute highlights.

Singularity

The Nightjar Acoustics Singularity is the best single-DD IEM I’ve ever heard; bar none. Without getting into tuning or tone, the technique they were able to pull out of this single driver was stunning. I was in agreement with virtually everyone there (and even those who heard it at CanJam NY), it seemed like a BA or EST was up in the highs aiding its detail retrieval and speed. Unlike most single-DD’s that smooth over or ever-so-slightly smear the treble (even the ones with high extension), the Singularity would comb over them and accentuate those micro-transients. Whether it’s light ride cymbal rolls on a jazz track or the decaying chugs of an electric guitar, the Singularity never let details drift off or lose focus to my ears; a unique achievement for an IEM of its kind.

Presentation-wise, the Singularity had an engaging, colored, bass-lifted tuning, paired with substantial, yet clear mids and a clean treble. I’ve heard it compared to the recently-popular FatFreq MSE. I think it bears similarities (more so in delivery than tone) to Elysian’s OG DIVA. But, all in all, this’s a fun, dynamic tone without any audible “potholes” anywhere in its FR, and it jived perfectly well with any genre I threw at it. What I loved more than its tonal balance was its delivery. I called the Singularity enveloping at the meet, and that’s literally what it was. It had huge, bouncy notes that surround and wash over you. I found its height particularly impressive. And, the texture its treble was able to resolve made its walls of sound all the more rich. Its stage wasn’t the largest or vastest because of this, but I thought it had just enough space to keep it all open; never overwhelming.

So, as far as a toe-tapping, deep-digging, all-encompassing DD IEM, the Singularity was a frontrunner in all departments. Throw in the fact it’s set to come in at 1300 USD, you have yourselves a potential hit. I’ll be joining the 10+ people who’ve already committed to a pre-order when it comes out mid-2023, and I hope to see what others think of it as its launch date nears. ‘One of the stars of the show for me, for sure.

Duality

The 2-DD Duality aimed for a similar tone to the Singularity, but with a massive added dose of bass; sub-bass, to be clear. This was a no-holds-barred basshead monitor, but executed with a high level of finesse. Like its single-DD sibling, it had a clean, airy image, resulting in strong amounts of headroom. At the same time, it didn’t quite have the fine-toothed-comb precision and detail of the Singularity. It very much sounded like a DD in its mids and highs. Chang told us he’s still working on giving the mid-high driver the same speed as the Singularity, whether through tuning or a new, bespoke DD. So, that is still to be determined.

The reason for that disparity, though, was because the Singularity didn’t have anywhere near the rumble this Duality did. It really had sub-bass on sub-bass on sub-bass, but I can’t emphasize enough how clean the rest of its FR still came out. This was because of the IEM’s clean bass shelf and how clean the low-end itself was. It wasn’t a blubbery mess, nor was it a bunch of random vibrations. Even with the impedance adapter that boosted the bass even further (which Chang built for fun as a proof-of-concept), the woofers would not distort. It was a focused low-end rise that spanned the entire horizon of the image and hilariously felt like a deep-tissue massage. Now, I just can’t wait to hear it paired with mids and highs to match.

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Following our lovely café meet, we moved on to Jaben Singapore, located in the Adelphi building. A few of us wanted to try the FitEar line-up, which Uncle Wilson and his crew generously laid out, despite having them already packed for CanJam. That was also where we finally met the lovely @drftr and Sajid. While the Cooler Crew had their mass FitEar demo, most of which I’d already heard in the past, I auditioned the Softears Tremolo. This was then followed by demos of @yaps66’s in-ears, which he kindly encouraged. So, here are some impressions of those, along with a couple IEMs Jim and Jemy kindly let me try too:

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Softears Tremolo

The Tremolo unit I auditioned was actually a custom model moulded to Uncle Wilson’s ears. So, it was a less-than-ideal scenario, where I had to hold the units in place in my ears and hope that I wasn’t adding bass and/or treble by pressing them in too hard. Nevertheless, what I heard was a fairly impressive 1-DD IEM. It didn’t blow me away like the Singularity did. It didn’t have that resolution in the mids and highs, and it wasn’t as bombastic in presentation. It was a more relaxed IEM, which I could definitely appreciate. It was mid-bass-biased to my ears, followed by a neutral midrange and a clear, well-extended, smoothened treble. The width and cleanliness of the image was impressive for its config, but that aside, I thought it performed about on par with its price point. So, it didn’t blow my socks off, but it’s an EDC worth considering.

Also, I must credit Softears again for their superb build. The transparent shells on Uncle Wilson’s units were crystal clear, and the internals were excellently done too. The wires looked cut to measure, and there wasn’t a splotch of glue in sight. Bravo.

Campfire Audio Trifecta

The Trifecta, above all, is a strongly-colored IEM. I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as some have flippantly made it out to be, but I can see it being an in-ear that can easily throw anyone off. Its main bits of colouration were in the upper-mids and treble, for me. There’s a 3kHz dip that pulled instruments back and dulled them quite a bit. Horns, keys, vocals and the like weren’t as vibrant or as forwardly-projected as they ought to be. And, its treble was a medley of peaks and valleys that emphasized certain attacks and deadened others. The 6kHz and 12kHz regions were cut to limit the amount of glitz and crystalline air in the in-ear, even though it had a fair amount of cut, still, thanks to adjacent peaks.

Part of those treble colorations felt, to me, made to highlight the bass. Low-end notes had this strong, well-etched thwack to them. And, those highs extended enough to give the monitor spherical, holographic imaging to. So, it definitely was an earphone with several highlights, but it’s also one of the tougher signatures to get into. I can see, in equal measure, why some would love it and why others consider it overpriced. But, I reckon it’s an IEM worth hearing and understanding, and I can certainly understand its appeal.

Noble Audio Ronin

The Noble Ronin was a tough one for me, largely because of its wide, chunky shells. I could get them to seal, but I could never get them to sit comfortably inside my concha. It never quite locked in and sat in my ears, and I question how much of its sound I actually got to hear. Nevertheless, what I did manage to glean from my demo was a fairly linear, plain-Jane-sounding IEM. Nothing really grabbed me, and it didn’t do much wrong either, except for what I perceived to be a lack of a deep, black background. There seemed to be a fuzz to the Ronin’s backdrop that prevented notes from popping in with as much strength and impact as they could’ve. It limited dynamics and drama on certain mixes, so that was my only qualm. Otherwise, it’s a good, steady Eddie sorta IEM, but make sure you give the shells a try before you make a purchase. It isn’t the most universal of universals.

Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor

This one caught me a bit by surprise. The UM MM is an in-ear lauded for its resolution and detail, so I was a tad startled to find it had a very warm, rich, meaty sound. Now, that’s not a bad thing at all. I found its body satisfying for toms or rhythm guitars. The mids were of an especially high quality; sumptuous and full-blooded. And, it matched really well with mixes on the brighter, lighter side. Tommy Igoe’s big band records gained a fair bit of weight. And, FKJ’s catalog sounded beautifully analog. The only bit that kinda let me down was that it didn’t have the cutting-edge clarity I was expecting. The in-ear was actually on the woolier side, transient-wise, and I was missing some of the edge it was purported to have. I could possibly have been influenced by the STORM audition earlier that day, or perhaps a tip change could’ve helped. In any case, I still found the MM very good; just not what I was expecting.

Astell&Kern x Empire Ears Odyssey

The Odyssey is what I thought the Legend EVO truly should’ve been. It’s an in-ear that, like the LX when it came out, was bass-first, then warm, soothing and inoffensive overall. Its midrange was one of Empire’s better efforts, even if it still had that light smearing or saturation they’re known for. And, its top-end had a more linear, more balanced tonality than their low-treble-biased ODIN too. It extended well enough to let the lows do their thing - and do their thing, they certainly did - but I did find it missing that last iota of upper-treble air to compete with the likes of the STORM or the MM. In imaging, I thought it did well. It was expansive and sufficiently airy, while not superlatively clean, and it laid itself out like a nice, even sphere. I thought the dynamics of the monitor were good, but, as usual with EE’s recent efforts, the bass grooved more than the mids or highs to my ears. So, all in all, it was an in-ear that scored 8/10’s across the board for me, and I enjoyed my time with it a fair bit.

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And, then, it was D-Day. By Saturday, 10.15AM, I’d finished breakfast at my hotel, donned my Watercooler tag, packed my bags and ordered a cab to the Pan Pacific Hotel. On the ride there, I was as anxious as I always am pre-CJ, but the nerves weren’t half as bad. Again, I needn’t do any coverage, nor did I have a Fujifilm camera weighing down my neck. This was a CanJam for the people, and I was really, really looking forward to it.

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As soon as I got there, I reunited with the Cooler Crew, and we all headed to the hotel café for a pre-show cuppa. Some of us got the show started there with an audition of L&P DAPs. I was really impressed by the size and weight of the P6 Pro, even though my wallet begged I didn’t audition it. And, after a round of coffee and a few minutes of chit chat, it was show time. We all queued up, got our online ticket barcodes scanned, and headed in. After a quick lap around the show floor to get a feel for things, the first booth I headed to was...

FiR Audio

This was my 2nd time meeting Bogdan, as well as my 1st meeting Vlad. They were understandably reeling after the long flight over, plus the super-late window the hotel gave them to prep their booth. But, they were as courteous as always. They cleverly brought 3 Rn6’s to the show, and I was given one that was paired with FiR’s standard, SPC stock cable, as well as the red module installed. So, the following impressions will mostly be based on that.

Rn6

FiR Audio’s Rn6 came off like a bold interpretation of neutral. Notes had heft to them from a 1-2kHz bump, and it gave the midrange a thicker, richer timbre. It didn’t come off fatty or wet, though, because of its open, airy highs. That gave the IEM great staging, allowing it to image freely with superb left-right separation. Hard-panned rhythm guitars and horns had this surround sound feel to them. And, the headroom it produced was effortless too, probably due to its open design. It did this without resorting to a crystalline, tizz-y tone either, opting instead for thicker highs with more 7kHz texture than 5kHz glitz. Down low, despite having a light sub-bass bias, I felt it wasn’t too verve-y or rumbly. It had the littlest hints of wool; not the grittiest or the most crystalline. But, I felt it gave an earthy, analog quality that felt natural. More impressively, the layering and speed of the bass were superb despite that. Bass guitars and kick drums on the same track were nicely segregated. Nothing bled into each other. So, it was a surprisingly technical bass for the girth and decay it had, which, by the way, sat about level with its centre-mids.

Now, switching over to the custom silver cable the Rn6 comes stock with, I was met by a more intense, contrast-y sound. The sub-bass and low-treble were both lightly lifted, which added attack and impact, and it took the focus away from the 1-2kHz area to my ears. The in-ear gained a blacker background, which aided speed and resolution a great deal. The open hi-hats and chugging rhythm guitars on Daughtry’s Changes Are Coming, which previously barely bled into each other on the SPC cable, were now cleanly separated on the silver cable. This was certainly more of how I expected the Rn6 to sound based on earlier impressions. But, I reckon that SPC cable could still make for a viable, more soothing alternative if one already had it.

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Xe6

Immediately after, I hopped on over to the now-classic Xe6, and I really took to its signature. It’s a much more character-filled, unique tuning than the Rn6, and I found it very nice and soothing. Volume-matching them at the bass, the Xe6 had a much calmer upper-midrange and mid-treble, which resulted in a smokier, less vibrant timbre. It was as if I heard the same musical performance, but sat further away. This also gave the Xe6 perceivably more depth. I don’t know if y’all can relate, but the difference between the Rn6 and the Xe6, to me, was like the difference between listening in a studio and listening in an arena. The Rn6 was like the former, where the monitors are firing directly at you in a treated room, so you’re getting all that information in a cleaner, more upfront way. The Xe6 was like the latter, where the PA system is meters away, and, by the time the sound reaches your ears, it’s already bounced against the walls a couple times. Or, you could say, the Rn6 was a musician playing a well-rehearsed gig, while the Xe6 was that same musician relaxed and free-styling at home with a glass of scotch.

Either way, I really enjoyed my time with both the Rn6 and Xe6, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider a custom Xe6 for a split-second there.

Vision Ears

Across the FiR booth were Marcel and Amin from Vision Ears, who I hadn’t seen in two, long years. After our obligatory hi’s, they showed me two prototypes - Red and Blue - which they wanted crowd feedback for. This was going to be a model to celebrate their 10th anniversary, and I gave both a go. It’s safe to say, I liked one significantly more than the other…

Vision Ears Red

This was the biggest shock of the show for me. The VE Red was a beautifully-lush, open-sounding in-ear drenched in soul. It’s reminiscent in parts of some of their previous releases; first and foremost, the OG ELYSIUM. The Red had its airy, open delivery, not unlike a sip of fresh, chilled spring water. Instruments like keys, guitars and horns were light on their feet and strongly melodic. Notes were on the larger side, and you heard them ever-so-slightly trail as they faded away. There’s this cross-feed-y, halo-y effect, as if their reverbs were ever-so-slightly heightened. But, because of its immensely-airy treble, the stage remained clean, and it maintained depth as well; never too intimate.

It’s an open, melodic signature that’s ELYSIUM-like, but this’s then paired with the earthy, lush, mid-forward warmth of the VE8. The Red wasn’t as wispy as the former, nor as down-and-dirty as the latter. It was a healthy in-between to my ears. And, that’s all brought together by a meaty, DD-driven bass that balanced the sub- and mid-bass frequencies very nicely. It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous sig for my preferences.

All in all, this could be a beautiful IEM for those who love that unmistakably VE sound; who’ve loved the VE5, the ELYSIUM and the VE8, especially. It’s not for those who prefer the crisp, staccato-like cuts of a Subtonic STORM or the ultra-wide, far-field sound of an Elysian Annihilator. But, if you want to sit back and enjoy your favorite band from the 3rd or 4th row, letting music just wash over you, this is certainly one to watch. It got my vote (along with almost every one of the Coolers’), and this was arguably my favorite thing I heard at CanJam; an absolute showstopper.

Vision Ears Blue

To be totally frank, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Blue. If you’ve tried some of the recent TOTL hybrids - Empire’s Odyssey, FiR’s line, Elysian’s releases - this sounded like Vision Ears’ interpretation of that. It’s an IEM that, I feel, was tuned to play to the drivers than the music. It’s almost as if it’s yelling out, “Hey guys! We can do that sorta config too!” And, as a result, they got a sig with mids and highs flatter and less expressive than Red’s, paired with a bass that was rumbling and doing its own thing. It’s an IEM that also didn’t open up as much with “calmer” genres like jazz, instead requiring already-intense or full-sounding ones like pop to shine. At the very least, I got a thumpy-er sub-bass than the Red (to my ears, at least. A couple people at the show disagreed with me, so take that how you will). And, since the mids and highs sat further back, it had smaller, tighter instruments within a deeper-sounding stage too, I guess.

In the end, I maintain my opinion that Blue was VE not being themselves. This was a sound, no matter how well-executed, you could find several times in that room alone, and it’s not who VE are to me. Red is quintessentially them, and I honestly hope that’s the model that ultimately gets made. I think there is merit to being true to oneself, and I think it’ll only heighten the respect VE have among audiophiles; their fans, especially. I feel it’d be shame if they settled for that more-mainstream sound, instead of one of the absolute best in-ears I heard at the show. We’ll have to wait and see.

Empire Ears

Among the numerous friendships I’ve made throughout my time in the industry, Jack Vang is one of the closest ones, and I think that’s a sentiment a lot of us who’ve met him can share. He’s a warm, personable dude who’s generous with his time, honest to a fault and always open for a good bro hug. After catching up on what we’ve missed over the past couple years, ruminating on our individual struggles and successes and getting all that personal stuff out of the way, I gave his newest flagship - the EE Raven - a go.

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Raven

The Raven was, without question, EE’s most balanced-sounding and most technically-sound monitor yet. And, all it took was them finally catching the frequency range that’s eluded them most: The treble. After disappointing on the EVO and falling short on the Odyssey, the Raven, at last, delivered a top-end that extended and aerified for days. Then, correcting where the ODIN and Phantom erred, the Raven featured a smooth, even-handed, abrupt-peak-free tone that hit the mark to my ears; just precise, crisp and open enough with no artificiality to speak of. It’s the first EE in-ear I’d heard that didn’t smear or trail at all throughout the FR; an effortlessly snappy piece.

Once that’s done, it just made everything they’d already nailed go up a level. EE’s signature W9+ woofers delivered their world-famous bass, now cleaner-etched and less intrusive; not because they’d cut them down in any way, but because the treble finally made the room for it. And, taking community feedback to heart, they’d balanced the midrange better than any of their previous monitors, resulting in more of a centre-mid focus that’s bold, meaty and, most of all, appropriately-sized against the lows. One of my issues with the Odyssey was midrange notes always seemed smaller than bass ones, such that crescendos in horns, guitars and vocals never really hit and peaked like they were supposed to. The only ones that did were bass drops. On the Raven, because everything’s on equal footing in quantity and in size, the whole FR ebbed as one, so those climaxes - those theatrics - hit like they should.

For me, the Raven hit so many just right’s; more than any of EE’s previous releases ever had. While every in-ear is bound to have if’s, but’s and maybe’s, this was the first time I could say EE properly addressed all of their previous complaints. The LX was an answer to the Legend Omega, but some found it a bit bloated or veiled. The ODIN was an answer to the LX, but the upper-mids were overloaded. The Legend EVO was an answer to that, but fell short massively in treble extension. And, the Odyssey was an answer to that, but fell flat in the midrange and the uppermost treble. The Raven was the long-awaited home run. It’s a well-balanced IEM where no frequency outright beat another, yet it managed to still highlight the individual components that make an EE IEM great; i.e. the bass, clearly. The mids were even-toned with the size and power to match. And, the treble was EE’s airiest, most precise and most balanced by a country mile.

So, though where it competes in the larger landscape - against the likes of Elysian, or VE, or Subtonic, or FiR, etc. - is far too soon to be determined, I can say that this was categorically a win for EE themselves. They put their best foot forward with this one, and I’m happy to see them stick the landing. This one’s tied with VE Red and the Nightjar Singularity for my best in show, and it couldn’t have happened to a better group of folks.

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Now, with a few auditions in the bank, midway through the day, the Cooler Crew and I headed to the building adjacent to the Pan Pacific, Marina Square, for lunch with Eletech’s Eric Chong.

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We settled at Putien, where we had a sweet array of modern Chinese food, and we each shared how we got to know Eric. The locals among us got to know him during his time in sales, a couple of us have followed him through shows, etc. It was a much-needed break, topped off with a slice of gorgeous Black Forest cake, provided by our very own @metaljem77. An hour later, we were back on the show floor, and where better to continue than…

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Eletech

Eletech brought their refreshed entry-level line, consisting of the Azrael, Cassiel and the all-new Raphael. I had 2 of the 3 in my inventory already, so I decided to shift my focus toward their prototype collaboration monitors instead, and see what feedback I could give.

Prototype A

The A delivered that bouncy, contrasty, bass-enthused W-shape sig that’s become fairly popular nowadays. The VE Blue had it, the Elysian IEMs have it to a degree, and this was Eletech’s take on it. To me, its sub-bass rise was fairly clean, so you didn’t get any egregious warmth headed to the midrange. As a result, there was a brighter outline to its notes; fairly-cleanly etched. Although the treble ran the risk of dryness on certain tracks, its boisterous bass did do well in balancing it out. I called it a latte-like sound with a big, hefty bottom and an energetic upper-half, and it’s a fine-enough in-ear that’ll likely suit fans of contrast and impact.

Prototype B

The B sounded like a warmer, more relaxed version of the A; less bite-y and vibrant across its upper-mids and treble. This one had a wetter mid-bass to it with perceivably more presence, most likely because of its more relaxed highs. It was very reminiscent of the LX to me, where the bass and low-treble gave it pops of energy, while the midrange sat with a velvety-smooth tone. Though, it did have more of a sub-bass bias than the LX, and it had an airier upper-treble too, so one could say it’s a cleaner, tidier version of that sound.

Although one may perceive the B a touch veiled or flat coming from A, I did find B to grow on me more than A did. A’s first impression was its best. Whereas, the B started off a bit slow, but I found myself falling into a nice, cozy groove with it by the 2nd or 3rd track. It was an IEM I enjoyed more and more as it went along, and I almost didn’t want to take them out of my ears. So, ultimately, which of the two Eletech decide to move forward with will depend on which they appreciate more: Instant gratification or long-lasting pleasure.

Jomo Audio

Joseph Mou is another longtime industry pal. I’ve heard his in-ears from the Jomo brand’s very conception, and it’s been a treat watching him grow to the name he is today. As much as I wanted to try all his new models, I only had time for his two flagships: The GT600 and the all-new Alpha Ti.

GT600

Jomo’s GT600 reminded me a lot of my fiancé when I’m asking her for feedback on anything. As soon as I ask, she’ll turn to me with the blankest face a human being could possibly make and just give it to me straight; no ease-in, no sugarcoat, no preamble; nothing. That’s exactly how the GT600 delivered music. It’s a straightforward, nice-and-clean, just-there IEM that took the music you fed it and went, “Here you go.” Apart from its lightly-relaxed low-mids, which brought the slightest hint of dryness to its midrange, it’s largely an uncolored in-ear. The difference is, this applied throughout its entire delivery. There was no attempt to romanticize, or energize, or beautify here.

Now, on the bright side, that made its detailing seem extremely effortless. It resolved without any trickery; without lifting a finger. As an engineer, that seems like the exact signature I’d want as a reference tool. But, I personally found it a bit too blasé for even me to work with. When I’m mixing or mastering, I still need some oomph in texture, or dynamics, or imaging to keep me going; to keep me interested and to stave off the mental fatigue of the task. But, I can see this being an ideal IEM for someone who just wants the in-ear to step out of the way and let the mix do the talking. As long as you don’t mind the in-ear’s average depth, the GT600 offers superb detail, good left-right width and a linear, almost-perfectly-uncolored tonality to those who’s idea of an ideal IEM is passive and unenthused, and I mean that in the most positive way possible.

Alpha Ti

Compared to the cleaner, drier, more down-the-barrel GT600, the Alpha Ti was a looser, more pleasing, more euphonic-sounding IEM. Notes were larger, wetter, and they had more of a sway to them; an ebb and a flow. Part of that came down to its smoother treble. The Alpha didn’t emphasize air frequencies as much. It also had stronger dynamics. Tracks moved more here, and it also exhibited a quality I relate most to EE’s ODIN. Its stage felt empty (or had empty pockets of space) until the track filled it up. Uncompressed, well-mastered tracks did this, often doing so in stages as the song slowly builds to its climax. Whereas, compressed, strongly-limited tracks started out as tiny balls in the middle of the stage, then stayed that way ’til the end; no expansion, no build, and the outskirts of the stage would remain empty.

Speaking of that stage, it wasn’t the most expansive I’d heard. It didn’t span far out of head, and the Alpha’s larger notes filled it up a bit more noticeably than the GT600’s did, despite the former’s impressive stereo spread and layering. Its mids also had a decidedly BA sound. It lacked the 3D-ness and tactility a DD would deliver. But, ultimately, small niggles aside, the Alpha’s biggest sin to me was that it didn’t really offer anything extraordinarily unique. Arguably, its most unique trait was its titanium shell, and even that’s becoming less and less of a novelty. So, while it’s a well-done, well-balanced sound, it also wasn’t a sig that offered anything particularly unique. As much as it stood out externally, I struggled to find what set it apart in the flagship race in 2023, sonically.

Elysian Acoustic Labs

Another CanJam Singapore first, 2023 was when I first got to to meet Elysian Acoustic Labs’ Lee. The Cooler Crew and I basically mobbed his booth, and it was fun picking his brains about tuning, proprietary driver design and the changes he made for his line-up refresh. There, I gave two in-ears a go: The Annihilator 2023 and a prototype dubbed ‘Dio’.

Annihilator 2023

I found the 2023 Anni a welcome shift from the OG I tried last year. I found the latter wide, open and airy, but also ethereal to a degree. Instruments didn’t seem tactile, solid or dense. They were light and floaty. So, hearing the 2023, I was glad to hear the issue fixed. A lot of that openness and headroom was maintained, thanks no less to Elysian’s signature treble, but instruments now had more meat - fiber - to them. Toms no longer sounded open-bottomed, nor did singers sound like they were missing chests or diaphragms. I suspect an augmentation to the low-mid or centre-mid registers aided too. But, all in all, it resulted in a superb interpretation of that airy, breezy, yet analog sorta signature that I loved in the original Lime Ears Aether or the MrSpeakers… ETHER, funnily enough. It’s not reason enough to get if you already have the OG Anni, but this is definitely worth revisiting if you enjoyed the OG, but wanted a bit more substance; more solidity.

​

‘Dio’ Prototype

The Dio is a prototype Lee brought to the show, which was pretty confusing, since the Annihilator’s prototype was also called Dio. Perhaps, Dio is what he calls all his prototypes..? In any case, this one caused quite a bit of buzz among the Watercooler Crew. A couple of us dubbed it the clear IEM of the show. I personally didn’t fall head-over-heels for it, partly because of its unfinished treble, and partly because of its tentative price. I won’t say how much, but it was really, really, really high. But, it was a very impressive IEM in its unpolished state, still, and here’s why.

The Dio, tonally, wasn’t far removed from the Annihilator. I could see their FRs lining up fairly well. Where the Dio exceeded the Anni - and almost every other IEM I’ve heard, for that matter - was in raw scale. The Dio was a massive-sounding IEM. Not only was its stage effortlessly out-of-head, but the notes within it were huge to match. I listened to, again, Daughtry’s Changes Are Coming and, during the build to the chorus, I could’ve sworn I could see all 14 inches of that floor tom right in front of my face. The bass was a stellar achievement from a power and physicality POV, though I found its tone or texture largely decided by the treble. The same went for the midrange. It was similarly large and textured, but not the tidiest, due to the treble.

As you can probably guess, up high was where I took the greatest issue with the Dio. It didn’t have the clarity, refinement or ease of the Anni, and it needed more juice as well. On my Lotoo PAW Gold Touch, the Dio was borderline messy. It took my Cayin N6ii to get it in line, so the rest of its sig could hit. So, it really is up to Lee to polish that treble up; not just for the sake of what he’s already achieved in the lows and mids, but to deliver on the price range he’s set so ambitiously high for himself. I hope the Dio turns out well in the end, but it’s almost destined to be for the richer-blooded among us.

64 Audio

As my time at the show came to a close, I decided to walk around the show floor saying goodbye to everyone I’d had a pleasant reunion with at CanJam 2023. One of those people was AV One’s Jeremy, and, being the salesman he is, as soon as the pleasantries were over, he ushered me over to the 64 Audio booth for me to try their new U4S. How was it? Well…

​

U4S

The 64 Audio U4S was a 64 Audio IEM with a DD woofer. It sounded exactly how it read. The brand has developed a house FR curve with the U12t, U6t, A3t, etc., and the U4S took that familiar sound and added a warm, girth-y, full-blooded low-end. To my ears, it performed about as well technically as I’d expect a $1000 IEM to. It didn’t really blow me away in that respect; dynamics, imaging, resolution, etc. I also felt they were trying to show off that DD a bit too much. The lows were fairly warm and bloomy. I’m sure you could fix that by swapping out the apex module, but I unfortunately didn’t have the time to. Still, despite all that, it was about as close as one could get to a U12t with a DD bass. And, that price was hard to beat. So, if a DD-equipped U12t is what you’re looking for, and you don’t mind trading some technique for a lighter price tag, the U4S is certainly worth a look.

Soranik x xMEMS

And, the very last thing I tried as I was waiting for my cab to the airport was something outside the CanJam programme. The Cooler Crew and I were asked to try xMEMS’s all-new microspeaker, and it’s tech I admittedly know very little about. As far as I’m aware, it’s a new level of miniaturization, which includes the use of silicon semiconductors and a whole new method of fabrication. And, of course, like any new tech on the bleeding edge, it currently requires an annoying proprietary energizer to run.

Said driver was inside an IEM from Vietnamese brand, Soranik, and it was a hybrid with an xMEMS tweeter, then a BA for its mids and lows. Immediately, I loved how it presented the treble. The xMEMS tweeter delivered a top-end that was solid, crisp, well-etched and open, but it didn’t have any of the usual telltales of a BA or an EST. It needn’t a BA’s 5kHz glitz, nor its 8kHz etch, nor its 10kHz glare, and it had neither the sandy, powdery notes, nor the weightless floaty-ness of Sonion’s EST. It was a weighted treble with tons of tactility - very 3D-sounding - but without the colorations that that sound would typically need, and it was probably one of the most natural, uncolored treble reproductions I’d heard yet. Now, if they can only get rid of that slog of an amp unit.

Jokes aside, I think this xMEMS driver has tons of potential as a tweeter. It impressed me more than ESTs did when they were first coming out, and it’s already impressed me more than some of the optimized, matured EST configs I’m hearing now. So, as long as they can come up with a way to drop that energizer unit or massively scale it down, I think this driver will be the future as far as in-ear tweeters are concerned.

---

And, that was that. As the clock struck 5PM, I said my goodbyes to everyone I’d seen, whether for the very first time, or the first time in a long, long time. We shared laughs, we shared hugs, we shared until next time’s, and off I went; back to my hotel, then to the airport. Before I knew it, I was getting ready for Sunday service and, by 7AM, the day after, there I was:

​

I said it to everyone there, and I’ll say it again here: CanJam SG 2023 was the best one I’ve ever been to. And, absolutely none of it had to with the gear. As much as I’ve loved the products I got to listen to, or the review/business opportunities I’ve been able to make in the past, there really is quite nothing like giving and reciprocating human connection. The 2 days I got to spend with the Cooler Crew were some of my best times in the hobby, and the reunions I had with Amin, Marcel, Jack and Eric, just to name a few, were nothing short of special. I didn’t even mention the beautiful, private conversations I finally got to have with @jude and @Sebastien Chiu, who I’ve long, long admired online. So, once again, a team effort as it always is, I wanted to express my thanks to every single person for making this an event to remember. I had as much of a blast as I thought I was going to, but I truly didn’t think it was going to hit me in the feels this hard.

I hope all of you who were there with me got to reminisce on that special weekend through my post, and I hope all of you who weren’t able to make it got to live vicariously through it. I can’t wait to meet all of you again one day, and I surely hope there’ll be more of us there when we do. We’re gonna need a wide-angle lens to take these group photos at the rate we’re going. Live long and prosper, Cooler Crew! Daniel, out!

​

Legend! always heartfelt comments

 

[drgnfly]

So sorry to hear that. Hope you are fully recovered now.

Did you get better?

Yes thanks

Had persistent cough that developed into bronchitis, then got struck down with Covid

Literally took over 5 weeks to fully recover under a mixture of cocktail of medicine along with antibiotics

The only silver lining was that I was not able to book the pan pacific hotel stay due to it being sold out

 

[Danger]

So glad I'm no longer obsessed with headphones and iems. I'm now just enjoying the music and not listening to equipment and not constantly buying new things. Wonderful life change.

 

[samuraix920]

So glad I'm no longer obsessed with headphones and iems. I'm now just enjoying the music and not listening to equipment and not constantly buying new things. Wonderful life change.

Nice, hopefully after my mass kobo 475 transportable amp i can finally stop. I have Utopias for headphones, EE Odins, CA Solaris SE, CA Andromeda V2?(Didnt get rid of my other IEMs as i upgraded to Odins), soon to be 475 for porta amp and rs6 for dap. Really starting to get numb always get the occasional itch to have a listen to the other stuff out there

 

[Deezel177]

So glad I'm no longer obsessed with headphones and iems. I'm now just enjoying the music and not listening to equipment and not constantly buying new things. Wonderful life change.

I’m the same, honestly. Now, checking out IEMs or headphones is more about seeing all the different “lenses” you can see your music through.

 

[SteveK27]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression

A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)

At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.

Financial district

Marina Bay Sands

Gardens by the Bay

Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)

“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.

Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.

Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co

Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.

Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm

@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)

Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.

SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality

1. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
2. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.

Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)

Photobombing Lee and @yaps66

The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)

Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle

Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong

Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman

Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.

The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)

At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.

Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

 

[drftr]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

Oh boy....................

May I suggest the whole front page of Head-Fi.org to be completely cleared, but with one single link to these incredible impressions right in the middle???

drftr

 

[immortalsoul]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

Man, this was a very memorable post. It moved me to my core. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is a blessed community to have people from all over the world sharing the same passion

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

What an INCREDIBLE post Steve! Thank you for sharing your heart with us. I felt like I was there with you (I wish I could’ve been!)

 

[metaljem77]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

Stupendous post, palpable in its emotive discoveries, and the last italicised portion left an incandescent spark in my soul

 

[NovaFlyer]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs doaffect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

Incredible post and needs to be linked on the Hard-Fi homepage! Really emphasizes the comradery, relationships and friendships that are built in the community, and especially those from the Head-Fi community.

 

[GiullianSN]

Crosspost from the Water Cooler:

Quick diary of CanJam SG 2023, I don't take photos so I'll try to not leave a wall of text because I'm a terrible writer. This is more of a travel log and less of an audio impressions post, I don't really do that anymore.

I'd say by my 3rd CanJam I stopped going primarily for gear auditioning but began going for the social aspect. It started off slow saying hi to familiar faces of exhibitors who recognized me. But in NYC 2022, the first Canjam back after covid was when this really kicked into full gear. I don't know what it is but I've just become more confident in talking to not only exhibitors but attendees as well and have made some legitimate friendships with people through audio, something that an introvert like me with major social anxiety couldn't have possibly dreamed of prior. I guess coming out of the lockdown gave me some confidence. This past NYC was no different and in Singapore I was at 100%. Every single day was spent with audio people from completely different circles.

Friday I landed in the early AM, got to my hotel and went to bed immediately cuz I was so tired after that 21 hour journey. In the morning, @metaljem77 picked me up for breakfast and pre-CanJam activities after some technical difficulties. Here I met up again with @HiFiHawaii808 who I saw the month prior, and also got to meet @yaps66 @AxLvR @SteveK27. We had a lovely breakfast and then headed off to Kith Cafe to meet up with Subtonic guys. Here we were joined by @Deezel177 and spent some hours trying out different cable pairings for Storm, as well as our other IEMs. I already met Chang in NYC briefly, and then got to meet Ken at Kith as well.

Afterwards we went off to Jaben where as you may have seen, I purchased a custom FitEar MH334SR. Thanks to Uncle Wilson for sorting that out and doing my impressions. The DC was my 2nd favourite one there, and I might eventually get one. Here we found @drftr and also briefly met @Sajid Amit. We went to bak kut teh for dinner after and then returned to the Tonic at the JW Marriott to unwind and share our gear with each other once again. I had a 10 SGD bottle of water since I don't drink. We pretty much heard everything CanJam had to offer, before CanJam even began.

Saturday we met up early to get some morning coffee/tea. I finally got to meet @Kiats and chat about FitEar! Unfortunately I had to leave early to go sort out some stuff at CanJam, but it was nice to get together before going off to check out the show. Most people stuck together and went in groups, which was unique from NYC where everyone kind of split off for the most part. The show floor is a lot different from NYC, just one big rectangle, where as NYC was more square with an empty middle area. NYC also had additional rooms off to the side. I heard Singapore usually has a second room as well, but not this time.

I said hi to to my friends who were exhibiting, they were understandably quite busy. Even though I already saw most of them just a month ago, it's always a fun time hanging out, since I could go as an attendee this time and really take my time to have a chat as a customer. Got lunch together with Eric from Eletech and the watercooler crew, and then had dinner with some of the local guys. Sunday went mostly the same, had lunch with Jordon from EA, my local friend, Steve and Albert. Right before we went to lunch, Jordon got the chance to try the Radon6. I asked him if he signed up for the giveaway and he didn't know about it so he went to sign up. We return from lunch and what do you know, Jordon won the Rn6 giveaway! Very happy for him, probably appreciates it more than if I had won it. I was so exhausted by the end of the day I just ended up going back to the hotel and passing out early without even grabbing dinner.

The winners of the show for me were Raven, Rn6, Ronin, Dio, VE Pink prototype, Storm. Again to remind you, I don't take detailed notes or impressions when I attend shows anymore, I just loosely remember what IEMs I like and why I liked them. CanJam's conditions are very loud and not ideal for demoing IEMs, so I gave up on that. If I hear something at the show that I liked, I will find a way to listen to it again at my home setup before deciding to purchase it.

Raven is probably the best Empire Ears IEM I've heard, and finally dethroned Odin for me. The signature EE bass is there, both in quantity and quality, but the highlight really is the fact that there is no dealbreaking sacrifice anywhere else in the frequency range. It's like more bass than LX but no bloat or muddiness going into the lower mids. There is plenty of air and balance and cohesion across the board. Vocals were balanced, not too thin and not too thick, not too distant but not too intimate, with great texture and clarity in terms of separation and layering in the overall mix. You won't get Elysian levels of treble but it's got a pleasant sparkle to the highs, very smooth, and not fatiguing. The most technically impressive IEM from EE for me.

Radon6 is my favourite of the Frontier series. You can see my glowing review of Bogdan over in the Fir thread, but after what they did for me, I just know for a fact I'll be buying a Fir CIEM in the near future. It's got the bass of the Xe6 but doesn't have that overwhelming warmth that goes into the lower mids. Still very punchy and decent amount of sub. Vocals have good weight with plenty of air that also extends further up without getting sibilant. I found the sound stage to be quite average, which is surprising considering the IEM is semi-open. I would assume a CIEM with perfect fit would fix this, but only a few people have gotten the Radon in custom so I'll wait to hear their impressions.

Storm still blows me away, it's very reactive to cables. I love the bass response as well as the treble energy. It's a pretty referencey sound but that's always been the kind of sound I gravitate towards, so nothing surprising with me loving this one. Nothing about it is boring though, it's still pretty engaging, especially with the right cable. Albert told me to try a pairing of the RS8, Storm, and one of the nightjar cables I forgot which one, but it sounded like a home theatre system.

VE's pink proto, I didn't spend much time with them at NYC but I gave it more time this time around. I preferred the pink one in NYC, and I also preferred the pink one in SG. I know there have been some conspiracy theories about the colours being swapped or tunings being changed due to the varied impressions going on, but I really liked the pink one I heard at SG. It had an incredibly detailed low end that seemlessly transitioned into VE's signature mids and nothing offensive about the treble at all. Pretty good staging as well.

Dio was incredible as well, very clean, what I thought Annihilator would be. But due to it being only UIEM and also the price tag, I lost interest in it pretty quickly so I don't have much to say. Worth a listen, probably the best Elysian IEM to date.

Ronin I didn't have much to say for this event because I already heard it in NYC. I love the BA bass on the Ronin, and to me it had better tonality than both Mentor and Ragnar. I'd say Ronin is a great in between of the two, closer to neutral, where Ragnar is bright-cold, and Mentor is brightish-warm.

Monday was a free day, I tried the legendary kaya toast in the morning and then went to check out Sim Lim Square where had salted egg chicken rice for lunch at the place behind Zeppelin (who is closed on Mondays). That was a great meal, but later I was told that I went to the wrong restauraunt. There are 2 right next to each other that serve salted egg chicken rice, I went to Taste Good because I was told that was the best place, but later I was told that "3 meals a day" are the original owners of Taste Good, who make it better. Either way it ended up being delicious.

Afterwards I walked around Marina Bay Sands and did touristy stuff to keep my mom happy with photos and videos since I'm not much of a tourist or sightseeing person myself. I ended up meeting up with Jack and some of the Zeppelin crew for dinner and drinks. Hanging out with Jack after the show is just CanJam tradition for me, one of the guys who really welcomed me into the audio scene and introduced me to many people I now call friends. I had laksa for the first time, which was delicious and probably still my favourite meal that I ate during my time in SG. My stomach disagreed that night but it was worth it lol.

Tuesday I went over to have a casual biz meet with a keyboard vendor, MONOKEI. I've known the owner for years and have worked together with them as my SEA distributor, but we finally met in person and really hit it off like old friends. They showed me around their warehouse and then took me to some local street food for an authentic Singapore lunch experience. Afterwards I headed off to Zeppelin where I saw Chang and @tfaduh hanging out, trying earbuds. They invited me to sit with them and we spent some time just sipping coffee and trying out audio gear. I'm so jealous that the local SG guys can just do that whenever they want, it was kind of a surreal experience for me. The Zeppelin crew are hilarious too, very friendly. We went our separate ways for dinner, where I walked around Bugis Junction with a friend, trying out all kinds of different food and desserts. I was full as hell that night.

Wednesday was my final full day. I went to meet up with Jordon for lunch and tea and then loitered around Effect Audio's office for a good 3 hours or so. He bought me some salted egg chips to try, two different brands. I ended up liking the less popular one. We also talked a lot about things; bubble tea, snacks, general life, doing a little culture exchange. By about 5 pm I had to head off over to Eletech so I said my goodbyes to the EA crew.

At Eletech I spent like 2 hours ABing the proto IEMs with different cable pairings. Was happy to give feedback to Eric since I know he's a perfectionist. Unfortunately he was really busy with meetings so we didn't get to hang out again, but I went out to dinner with Hong from Eletech who I met in NYC where we worked the booth together. We got Thai food and had incredibly fresh fruit and sago for dessert. Afterwards I walked back to my hotel to pack up and nap before flying off.

On my way back I declared my FitEar to the customs agent because it was the only thing I bought. He looked at me and said something like "the earphones were $2800?" and I already had Jaben's website opened on my phone. He let me go after that.

This ended up being longer than I wanted to I apologize for the wall of text once again. Thanks to everyone who took the time to hang out with me. This was easily the best holiday I've taken in the last 10 years, and perhaps the best trip of my life. I have plenty of reasons to come back, so as long as I can afford to, I will see you guys again.

And just an add-on for anyone on the fence about attending CanJam, I really can't recommend it enough. Come for the audio, stay for the people.

Great write up mate. I’m jealous of this great team meetups. Maybe next year.

 

[samuraix920]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

Lovely story, also really glad there was a shout out to yong from sgaudiohive. Everyone is always talking about the big cable makers but i always had a lot of respect for yong and the quality of his cables, in fact the only 2 after market cables i ever bought are from him, the labriosa and the T01Ag.

 

[yaps66]

Canjam Singapore 2023 Impression



A picture is worth a thousand words

These photos encapsulate the memories shared together with the people I love.
And the people I love – I regard as ‘family’ that extends past the notion of sharing the same blood.

Here I’d like to introduce ‘my family’ - the Watercoolers
A collective group of individuals who are more than just audiophiles. Dare I say adventurers, globetrotters, iconoclasts, daredevils, mavericks, risk-takers, voyagers, and opportunists. Intellects and savants who continuously push forward to unearth new discoveries, unafraid to dive deep into uncharted territories and bring light to everyone a new found knowledge that challenges and pushes the boundaries of preconceived audiophile knowledge.

This is a community with a collective mindset; a shared principle, value, and love - to explore the depth of audiophilia and share our impressions in the most appropriate and respectful manner.

Introducing the SG Watercooler Contingent :

Jim @HiFiHawaii808
Weihao @klyzon
Simmy @Sifo
Steve @SteveK27
Jemy @metaljem77
Kiats @Kiats
Ben @yaps66
Daniel @Deezel177
Albert @AxLvR
Joop @drftr

And all my beloved friends and representatives who I was able to meet :

Jordon @JordonEA
Yeo @AegisYeo
Hieu @nhat_thanh
Eujin @ejong7
Ethan @Ethanmusic7
Heley (Effect Audio)
Sebastien @Sebastien Chiu
Suyang @Suyang
Eric @Eric Chong
Lee (Elysian)
Chang @Chang
Sajid @Sajid Amit

And lastly, the most honorable Jude @jude who made all this possible


Day 1 : Manifestation of a Dream (March 22nd, 2023)


At Incheon airport getting ready to board my flight

I’ve been introduced and invited to the Watercoolers by none other than @Rockwell75 last September, 2022. Before then, I'd lurk around different forums too afraid to leave any comments as I couldn’t fathom myself leaving any impressions of value that would be appreciated by the community. So imagine how humbled I was for Jeff to reach out to me personally and encourage me to take part in the Watercoolers.

I get chills each time I think back to this moment.

Six months have passed since then and I’ve been regularly spending time with the Coolers both in and out of head-fi, dreaming to meet the faces of familiar names who I’ve always looked upon in reverence. And what I thought would remain just a dream manifested into reality as I sat in front of the airport gateway with my passport and ticket in hand.

Canjam Singapore 2023 here I come!
I took a little selfie at the airport as a big reveal to my friends. I hoped to induce a sense of familiarity so that I don’t shock anyone when we meet face-to-face.

An embarrassing selfie right before boarding

My priority was quite simple coming into Singapore.
It was all about fostering relationships I’ve built up over a period of many months. To finally spend time with the people I love and create a cognitive profile of everyone with their voices, behaviors, and mannerism that cannot be projected online.


Financial district


Marina Bay Sands


Gardens by the Bay


Art Science Museum

I spent the first day all by myself walking around Marina Bay. I knew this was the only time I had to tour around the city and observe the multifaceted culture that is unique to Singapore. I went around Marina Bay Sands, Red Dot Design Museum, Art Science Museum, and finally Gardens by the Bay to finish off the day.

When I was spending time at the Art Science Museum, @HiFiHawaii808 offered to meet me inside the gallery before changing plans as something captivated his interest. Around the same time, @Deezel177 sent a text message with a photo showcasing the Art Science Museum. I thought it was funny how the three of us roamed around the same vicinity without ever bumping into each other.

All other Coolers were either still in flight or arriving the day after. We were very much aware of our itinerary as @AxLvR had created an entire spreadsheet worth of schedule that listed all the activities we were to be participating in – all the way down to the specific hours.

I looked at the spreadsheet attentively and prepared myself for the next day – the day which embarked the Cooler itinerary that had been pre-planned months ahead of time before the journey.


Day 2 : The Promised Gathering (March 23rd, 2023)


“Brunch” at Pan Pacific Hotel – courtesy of @metaljem77

I do not recall why I was facepalming. @klyzon contemplating about life while listening to Storm


The promised D-Day. A revelation of all things to come. I woke up from the hotel bed nervously gathering myself together. I remember shyly appearing in front of JW Mariott where I was warmly welcomed by @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 . We drove to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we congregated with @klyzon , @yaps66 , and @AxLvR who were waiting for us at the lobby sofa area. It was the strangest feeling ever to meet someone for the first time and feel as if we’ve known each other forever. I thought my shy persona wouldn’t allow me to be my authentic self, but there was not a single moment of awkwardness throughout the whole interaction. Just an endless stream of conversations filled with joy and jubilance that marked the strength and resilience of our friendship.

Our first activity was to eat “brunch” together at Pan Pacific Hotel. We visited a “sit-down buffet” where the waiter would bring the food over to you, which triggered a series of culture shock to one of the Coolers. Meanwhile, @metaljem77 was courageously opening up her new box of Trifecta to see where the polarizing impressions had been coming from. And surprise, surprise – she found herself to pleasantly enjoy it, which sparked each of the Coolers to take turn and assess what had been the most controversial iem of the year.


Vibing at EA Showroom

My seat was right in-between @yaps66 and @AxLvR

Saying hello to my good friend @JordonEA

Right after brunch was our meeting at Effect Audio’s newly revamped showroom. @JordonEA had graciously invited us to join their Housewarming Party an hour before it officially began, so I helped facilitate the communication to ensure that we would arrive on time as we had promised. Embarrassingly, we did get lost and circled around the same place for a good ten minutes, but our delay didn’t stop the EA crew from showering us with love. Jordon and Heley had us sit down at the couches and helped us feel comfortable by providing refreshing drinks and egg tarts that supposedly came all the way from Hong Kong. We had a nice long conversation as Jordon introduced us to their new Portable Carrying Case and their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable.

Portable Carrying Case + Chamber Carrying Case

The new Portable Carrying Case is essentially a half sized version of the Chamber Case that is slightly longer in length. It’s very nifty to hold and carry with a magnetic locking mechanism that forgoes the snap buttons from the Chamber Case.

But of course, being audiophiles, most of our attention was devoted to their bespoke Chiron + Horus cable. This cable left such a lasting impression amongst the Coolers that we bestowed it the nickname, “Latte”, as a way to commemorate its sound and beauty. I haven’t had the leisure to A/B compare it with the original Chiron, but it essentially retains the same sound profile with a weightier and more dynamic presentation + lifted bass.

Time was running short as we had another appointment to attend at Zeppelin & Co. so we were given a quick tour of the backroom where the real magic happens and greeted the master cable maker with the utmost respect. Our time may have been short, but it was honestly one of the most memorable moments I’ve shared at Singapore.


Some new friends made – @ejong7 and @AegisYeo join the party.

Zeppelin & Co


Chicken Rice at Boon Tong Kee for dinner – courtesy of @HiFiHawaii808

For dinner, we treated ourselves with a special Singaporean dish named “Chicken Rice” at Boon Tong Kee. This was a delicacy I had not tried before which was apparently very famous in Singapore. Personally, I preferred the crispy orange and sweet chicken more (as you can see @yaps66 picking one up with his chopsticks). This was not a cuisine that I was accustomed to, but I appreciated the challenge of savoring different kinds of food.


Rs8 → Yatono IC → Tsuranagi → Yatono Ultimate 8-wire → Storm


@AxLvR in meditation mode – reaching closer to the state of Nirvana

We spent the evening at Tonic (hotel bar at JW Marriott) demoing the entire collection of Brise Audio cables and Tsurunagi that were kindly supplied to us by Wilson @Jaben. @AxLvR was adamant to seek his “end-game collection” that would synergize well with his Storm. And so the rummage began as he spent the majority of evening cable-rolling through the entire Brise lineup and all of EA and PWA flagship cables. I like to believe I’ve tainted him in joining my cable conquest as I often get poked for being a hardcore cable enthusiast.

We finished off the night with John Wick, while @HiFiHawaii808 and @yaps66 ventured out into the streets for a midnight satay. I recall seeing their text messages up around 2am?? God knows what adventures they were having so early in the morning.


Day 3 : Picking up the Steam (March 24th, 2023)


Meeting with Ken and @Chang (Subtonic)

New nightjar flagship cable introduced by @Chang

Welcoming @Sifo and @Deezel177 into the party!

With just one day left before Canjam, our goal was to meet up with Chang and Ken to have an ample amount of opportunity to demo Storm, Singularity, and a new flagship cable that was to be released under Nightjar. Singularity took the heart of many Coolers, whereas I didn’t find myself too convinced. Regardless, being an audiophile is about having the capacity to appreciate a variety of signatures that I may not resonate with. I’d love to go back and have another listen, but I will refrain from leaving any impression for now due to the very little time spent listening.

There was also an iem named PamAn (aka Duality) that strangely went unnoticed by me. I have no idea how I was not made aware of its existence until post Canjam as apparently all other Coolers had a chance to listen to it. I’ll embarrassingly admit that my head was up in the clouds, just too caught up with socializing and missing a lot of opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have.

I finally got to revisit Storm with my newly acquired Rs8 and a handful of flagship cables to test and experiment with. Thank goodness this was a much better experience than the last time I had to travel 4 hours in public transportation just the demo Storm in South Korea. My favorite pairing with it was a prototype Hakugei cable composed of graphene and silver. With this particular cable, Storm had excellent detail and transients with one of the hardest-hitting BA bass I’ve heard. It has a strange way of invigorating adrenaline in spite of its “monitor-esque” presentation. We literally had more Storms at our table than some countries out there in the World, and so I had to jokingly ask everyone the estimated value of our table’s worth of gears.

Some funny responses to be shared :

“enough to buy a luxury car”
“enough to pay for your college tuition”

I think these sufficed enough to say that what we had on hand was a treasure trove of audio gears not to be taken for granted.

After the Subtonic meeting, all the Coolers left for Jaben where they would converge with @drftr and @Sajid Amit and demo a variety of Fitear iems. Unfortunately, I had to omit myself from the Jaben trip as there was an urgent schedule to attend with Yong from SGaudiohive.


SGAudiohive work desk. Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire (custom splitter and plug) sitting at the table

My time at SGAudiohive was an absolute blast.

What was originally supposed to be a quick work meeting devolved into a drawn-out banter where each of us shared our audio philosophy and gave our insight from years of meddling in the industry. Knowing that Yong built and sold his own cables, I took this opportunity to bombard him with dozens of cable-related questions.

A few enlightenment that was to be taken away from this experience –

1. Plugs do affect the sound quality / tonality of cables by the basis of its material composition
   • You can have two cables made of the same wire that sound different by the basis of plug alone. There are many different types of plugs, such as gold-plated brass, rhodium-plated copper, or platinum-plated copper. But the one we’re most familiar with are Pentaconn plugs that are made out of gold-plated OFC (oxygen free copper).
   • Having tried Yong’s revamped Mira 4-wire where only the splitter and plug were swapped out, it sounded noticeably different from the og Mira 4-wire with a slightly brighter and more euphonic tonality
2. Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
3. Seeing cable masters at work is incredibly captivating and mesmerizing

This meeting was a good reminder that there’s still so much to learn in this hobby. How far deep does this rabbit hole go? I’ll have to consult @metaljem77 in this regards.


Dinner at Bak Kut Teh – courtesy of @AxLvR

After my meeting with Yong, I quickly scurried to my next meetup at Bak Kut Teh where I was reunited with my good friend @drftr and gave him a nice hug to finally see him again. I was mentally exhausted by then and had accidentally mistaken @AxLvR as one of the restaurant waiters. Was it embarrassing? Very much so. But I swear these incidents are rare in my lifetime which @AxLvR seems to have a second opinion about.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tonic and we called it a night early to prepare for Canjam.


Day 4 : The Grand Opening (March 25th, 2023)


Photobombing Lee and @yaps66


The sweetest @Ethanmusic7 (wish we had more time together!)


Insightful conversation with @Suyang (I still have so many questions to ask him)

@JordonEA getting ambushed by Crinacle


Lunch with the Coolers – courtesy of @Eric Chong


Dinner with the Coolers – courtesy of a mystery gentleman


Midnight adventure. Introduction of the MEMS prototypes, Diablo X, and Basilica

The first day of Canjam was simply exhilarating. I had two objectives to fulfill coming into the expo.

1. To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
2. To demo all the new iems and prototypes breaking into the market

As you can guess from these numerical placements, my first objective was my utmost priority that listening to iems inadvertently became an afterthought. Canjam shifted to being a social networking event where one interaction would lead to another, continuously expanding my network of connections and building kinship that surpasses the sterility of online exchange of emails and DMs.

It’s the shared camaraderie that I found so enticing and captivating. From the little heads up and fist bumps with @Sebastien Chiu , to the cheerful hand-waves from Heley and @JordonEA across the venue, and a loving and welcoming hug from @Ethanmusic7 (came as a Linsoul representative) – this was the audiophile mecca I had been dreaming of where beautiful and like-minded individuals coalesce to share a life-time of a moment together.

A little background story to this photo…

Phone vibrates – @HiFiHawaii808 sent a message

“12:15 pm team pic. Meet at check in desk”

I rushed to gather everyone for what would be our first Canjam group photo.

“Where’s Eric?” – several Coolers asked

Just then we observed @Eric Chong leave the building to pick up a phone call. Due to time constraints, we hurriedly gathered to take a photo. And voila!

Immediately after the photoshoot, several members hurriedly went back to their venue that was left vacant for this moment. Eric then arrived with a smile on his face as we grouped together to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner was scattered into several different parties. Admittedly, I had no idea how our party would come to fruition as everyone had different priorities and meetings to attend. Things happened quite spontaneously and sporadically, but I’m glad to say I ended up with my dinner companions which kindled a new friendship made with Hieu (@nhat_thanh). We stayed up together until 12am roaming around a local mall and testing out the new MEMs prototypes, iFi Diablo X, and Soranik Basilica.


Day 5 : The Grand Closing (March 26th, 2023)

Fir Audio Rn6

EA Chiron + Caliburn (left), Chiron + Horus (right)

I didn’t get to spend much time demoing gears on the first day of Canjam so I wanted to devote a little more of my time listening to iems and cables. Due to the conditions of the show setting, I unfortunately could not leave any qualitative input behind, so I apologize for the incredibly dumb downed impressions that do no justice to each of these iems.

IEMs demoed (RS8 used for testing) :

Empire Ears Raven : A re-imagining of Legend X & Odyssey. A full-bodied signature with energetic mids and treble without a substantial upper-mid elevation (e.g. Odin). A mid-bass heavy signature that retains the holographic imaging of Odyssey which I believe is due to the implementation of BCD inside. It’s a fun-sounding signature and easily my favorite EE iem next to Odin. For the Odin fans out there, this is not the Odin 2.0 you’re looking for.

Eletech Prototype A (stock Illiad cable) : A bright, energetic signature with crispy treble and tightly articulated bass. It sounds a little coarse and dry in its vocal rendition, and I thought some refinement in the midrange to the lower-treble would be appreciated.

Eletech Prototype B (stock copper-based cable) : A warmer and full-bodied signature with a heftier and thicker thumping bass + smoother and more romantic mids. It becomes noticeably cleaner and leaner once switched over to a silver-based cable. My personal preference was Prototype B with a silver-based cable (using Hakugei prototype).

Vision Ears Red prototype : A W-shaped full-bodied signature with a thick and weighty midrange reminiscent of og Phonix and Erlkonig. Gritty details and textures. Elevated midbass with what sounds like a dynamic driver handling the low-ends (driver configuration kept a secret). It’s an engaging presentation that grips you at heart. I prefer Red (some members say it's “Pink”) over Blue.

Vision Ears Blue prototype : A neutral and linear presentation that sounds more “familiar” in the context of today’s saturated market. It still retains the VE house sound that’s very characteristic in the midrange. Less mid-bass quantity than Red. A polite, yet engaging sound signature that I still very much enjoyed.

Fir Audio Rn6 : Essentially a brighter and leaner version of Xe6 that takes the characteristic of Kr5 and puts the vocals a little more forward. This is easily my favorite Fir iem that takes the lesson learned from the Frontier series and creates a generally more appealing tuning that caters to a larger audience.

Elysian Dio (prototype) : A different take from the Annihilator. A more lush and analogue sound signature with a slightly tamed pinna-gain compared to the Annihilator (if i remember correctly). It’s a larger-than-life sounding iem with a hefty full-on bass. Unfortunately, its treble needed quite a bit of zing and bite up top. I thought I was missing something, only to later learn that the treble was left unfinished and the prototype was essentially a 70% completed model.

Jomo Audio Alpha Ti : A very lush and organic sound signature that puts you in the backseat for a laidback listening session. A grand enveloping stage. It doesn’t bite out you or calls for attention. Rather, the music organically presents itself to you in a smooth relaxing manner. Reminds me of Traillii in this regard.

Soranik MEMs prototypes (2 versions) -

Hybrid 2 MEMs + BA : A huge speaker-like presentation that surrounds you in every axis of the stage. An incredibly fast transient reminiscent of Storm. Honestly one of the most satisfactory BA bass I’ve heard that strangely retains a dd-esque weight and body. There’s a noticeable veil in the midrange with vocals placed back in the stage without enough strength nor vigor for engagement. Treble comes across sparkly and extended. Not the wispy ethereal kind like EST, but one with weight and body reminiscent of BA supertweeters. It’s an “exciting-type” of tuning where I hear it is a W-shaped tonality, but the midrange really needs work as it comes across noticeably low-res. in its vocal rendition.

2 MEMs : I have to embarrassingly admit that I do not recall the sound signature of this version too well. If my memory serves me correctly, this goes for a more linear and neutral presentation with an analog flavor. The bass is not as tactile nor impressive as the hybrid prototype. The vocals, however, do have more presence to them which is very much appreciated. I very much preferred the Hybrid prototype over the pure MEMs iteration.

Hieu @nhat_thanh (Founder of Soranik) revealed to me that improvements have already been made after an implementation of a new energizer just a few days ago. The MEMs prototypes are honestly one of the biggest highlights for me from this Canjam. I expect a prosperous future for this driver technology in the years to come.

Soranik Basilica (prototype) : Basilica also left one of the largest impressions on me throughout this whole Canjam. Starting with an innovative driver composition that utilizes 1 DD subwoofer, 1 magnetostatic driver, 2 BA, and 1 tia super tweeter and a proprietary acoustic chamber that’s built into the shell made out wood housing – what all this cumulates into was a spectacular cinematic experience with a huge soundstage that expands in every axis possible with reverb that mimics a home theater-like experience. It has a vivid and exciting presentation with a palpable gritty bass and energetic highs that keeps your toes tapping. Now there was a noticeable glare, sibilance, and lack of refinement somewhere in the upper registers (around lower-treble) that I pointed out to Hieu. Hieu was able to confirm my hearing and noted that one of the BAs was being overdriven and can be fixed by adding resistors to dampen up the amount of voltage fed into the driver. It’s still a prototype with much to be improved upon, but one that left a high remark that remains among my favorites from the show.

Soranik iON-4x

Soranik iON-4x : iON-4x is an entry model iem that utilizes 3 BAs and 1 DD subwoofer. Surprisingly, I found it to be the most mature and market ready product amongst all Soranik iems i’ve heard so far. It’s a more neutral sounding presentation compared to the Basilica with a copious amount of air down in the lows. I had to double check what I was hearing as it did not sound like an artificial perception of air, but rather a literal air that was apparently made possible by having three vent holes just for the dynamic driver. I heavily advise cable-rolling to a more competitive copper-based cable as the stock one does no justice. On Orpheus Shielding, the whole experience was just incredible and alluring to listen to. It does not resolve to a flagship degree nor does it impress you with a hyper amount of details. But the technicality is just sufficient without lacking anything in particular that this iem ended up being another one of my highlights that I enjoyed from the show.


The one and only @jude

This was the last day of Canjam and I wanted to take every opportunity to greet the people I’ve looked up to and revered. After a delicious ramen lunch I’ve had with my friends – courtesy of @Suyang – I sat upon the couch area to discuss the future of MEMs technology with @nhat_thanh. Within the midst of discussion, a strange man appeared willing to join us – one who I found quite striking in demeanor as he carried himself with confidence and charisma that I could only dream of having. I didn’t think too much about who this man may be, but only after several minutes did I come to learn that he was none other than @jude himself. That was a very embarrassing encounter for me to be so oblivious to the whole situation. The three of us shared a long discussion; albeit, it was primarily Jude sharing his wealth of knowledge while I shut quiet in hopes of not further embarrassing myself.

Jude dove deep into how many audiophiles (and especially youtube reviewers) mistake FR graphs as an absolute target curve vs. what is meant to be a preferential curve – sharing his insight that headphones that is tuned to the exact same FR target can sound different and that not everything can be measured by graphs alone.

I highly suggest looking into his video if you have spare time (0:50 ~ 1:32)


At the movie theater! (only dropping my friends off haha)

The rest of the evening was spent with @AxLvR , @nhat_thanh , and @AegisYeo where we did a little bit of scavenger hunt collecting items left behind from Canjam and chilling at the mall for a bit of leisure time.

Day 6 : Farewell (March 27th, 2023)

Sennheiser HE-1

Sweet sweet friends who’ve accompanied me till my very last day – @JordonEA , @AegisYeo

The last day was spent with my two good friends @JordonEA and @AegisYeo before boarding my flight. Jordon accompanied me from morning to evening, while Yeo stayed by my side till late hours at the Changi airport.

A lot of tears were shed in my private enclosure; and words alone cannot suffice my gratitude for everyone I’ve met throughout this trip. What I thought would just be a fun trip at Singapore ended up being a lifetime of an experience worth cherishing in my heart.




Define this hobby.
What does it mean to be an audiophile?

To me, it’s about chasing the language of gods that speaks to us.
And to discover a family that I didn’t know I had.

- Steve

As I said elsewhere, epic epic post. It reminds me of a love letter to audio and to head-fi! Music is food for the soul. Your posting demonstrates that the friendships built around audio elevates our soul to the next level. Your friendship is priceless!

 

[Sajid Amit]

The Dita Perpetua is my favorite IEM right now and was one of my top two IEMs from Canjam Singapore 2023. I just love this set. Hard-hitting bass, a midrange to die for in terms of timbre and naturalness, and a treble that feels well-extended without getting sibilant. The syngery with my Sony WM1ZM2 is also unreal. Best single DD in the world right now, as far as I am concerned, easily besting the Turi Tii for my listening preferences. Full review forthcoming.