Canjam Day 1 Photos and Quick Impressions.
A high-protein breakfast sans the potato and the bread thingie you see at the front. The latter is an Indian snack called a Vada Pav and it tastes better at Pan Pacific
than in Mumbai, I have to say.
My day started with a re-listen of the Subtonic Storm with the rather smooth sounding Sovereign Symphony cable. This IEM is as impressive as always but I still find it dry and clinical.
The duality was better but to be honest, I didn’t quite get the fuss about its bass. My supermoon hits harder and better. But enter the impedance adapter, and hello, the bass got bigger and better, and overall, the imaging seemed to benefit (could be placebo), and I’d definitely buy it if the bass-boosted profile was its stock sound. In a world of Xenon 6 and Trifecta, audiophile bass has reached a different level, IMHO.
In the same vein, the Symphonium Titan didn’t strike me as particularly hard hitting, and yes I understand it’s probably a Trifecta-effect and I also found it warm and lacking in treble clarity. Its sort of the opposite sound profile to the Helios which I absolutely loved for its brazen yet beautiful treble. The Titan plays way too safe. YMMV.
I came across a new cable brand called Verus audio and I liked the sound of their cables a lot paired with my Jewel.
Next I spent quite a bit of time at the Zeppelin booth. They had everything but jam packed into a tiny room which made movement difficult. You see me testing the iBasso PB5 and the D16 in this pic. Both devices are friggin’ awesome.
The PB5 blew me away daisy-chained
with my Sony WM1ZM2. This is what I hoped the Cayin N30 would sound like: big, bold, lush, and timbrally flawless.
I love green. This is the Rolex green.
Along with the PB5, the Raal 1995 Immanis are the most impressive pieces of kit I came across today, among those I listened to for the first time. Fair warning: I am a reviewer and I had listened to a lot of the good stuff already, prior to the show.
Meanwhile the Cayin N30 wasn’t my jam. While it improves significantly on the N8ii in terms of bass and thickness of notes, the treble still has the brittleness and dryness of its predecessors. Maybe it’s a house sound thing and I am sure there are those who love it.
At the Zeppelin table, there was also gilted Raven. And I adored it. Not sure what
@Jack Vang did with this one, but it sounded so damn good. Has it been retuned? Its bass is as beautiful and ballsy as bass should be but the best part is that midrange and treble timbre are also spot-on. Chef’s kiss.
The guy’s also aging in reverse, Mr Wang. Must be a country called gym which I keep meaning to visit. Its even visa-free entry for everyone.
Moving on, I also tried the Dunu Glacier, which, to me, was underwhelming at best. Is it priced at $1800? Maybe I misheard the Sam Audio rep but I wouldn’t buy it for half the price given the technicalities in the offing. Tonally, it’s absolutely fine, but again, I didn’t quite get the fuss about its bass. It looks sexy though.
On the other hand, this new IEM called Alter Ego from a hitherto unknown brand, Melodic Artification, really impressed. It had some of the most beautiful treble known to man, and some decent bass, with the bass switch turned on. I would love a re-listen.
I spent a bit of time with the Mass Kobo 465, the amp every summit-fier worth her salt is now talking about. It does have great synergy with the also-Japanese Final D8000 Pro but oh man with the Susvara, its so damn perfect. The bass!! No speaker amp I have tried has delivered me this level of realism with bass on the Sus.
It was nice to also finally meet the flipears creator Aries, and what a gentleman he is. I also met his wife and they are a truly lovely couple and I would like to see them do well, not just because of how kind they are, but also because how amazing every FlipEars product I have tried, has turned out to be.
The gold-plated Aurora is such an incredible beauty.
Also beautiful were the new Unique Melody Mason Soleil (red) and Nuit (blue).
I don’t want to get into too much detail with my impressions on these $9000 IEMs because owners are likely to feel possessive about such expensive products, but I wouldn’t buy either at a third of the price, not with the likes of VEX around.
The gentleman above goes by
@gadgetgod. He’s a sweetheart and he is pictured here brandishing some fine leather cases made by his friend
@Visveswaran Umashankar (Vishy). If you are going to be around tomorrow, check out Vishy’s leather cases at Jaben’s booth and show him some love.
Showing love, to me, in this case, are also my friends from Fatfreq. I love hanging out with these cool kids. They love their bass and they love to chat and I always have a good time at their booth. Arguably Singapore’s finest, along with my other fave, Dita Audio, whom I’ll visit tomorrow.
The day finished with a dinner of bbq ribs near the beautiful Singapore harbor front.
No chilli crabs
yet, but tomorrow for sure.
! 
Seriously.
