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 –
- 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
- Numerous manufacturers are interlinked and acquainted with each other more than you might think
- 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.
- To give my greetings to all the wonderful people I’ve eagerly been waiting for
- 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
