Canjam Singapore Day 2 Impressions:
The day started with some Kaya toast, which is just lovely in its simplicity. First of many pictured below.
Then I made a beeline to the show floor proceedings. I have been searching for a cable for my Jewel which is subtly but definitively cable-sensitive. Picked up this flash acoustics cable after a LOT of cable-rolling. It’s called the Catalina. Sounds pretty good and a decent price as well.
Next was the Kinera Loki, which is a pretty impressive effort at a flagship honestly. I expected it to have a fair amount of treble presence and it did, but it was more sparkly than bright. I believe they call it “articulate”. Nice fast textured bass and overall a good clean listen. Will get it in for a review.
This QoA Adonis prototype (they had two this was the bassier one) was outstanding for $180, which is their expected price point at upcoming launch. Incredible performance for a sub-$200 product. Its a sister brand of Kinera, QoA.
Ice Labs audio also had two very interesting IEMs, the Prismatic and Prismatic Gold. They were both good IEMs but the Gold was very good and was better across the spectrum with some really high-quality BA bass, a tonally rich midrange, and a well-done treble. Impressive tuning and technicalities were solid for $1800.
Next I checked out the Noble Audio booth to experience the Onyx. First impressions are positive in that the tonality is spot on, the bass reminds of that fantastic Sultan bass, and overall very pleasant. It was too short a listen to determine how resolving it is for the price, but this is worth a look for Noble fans. The highlight for me and my wife was the incredible full gold and diamond Sultan, still my favorite Noble product.
They had another Sultan made of stainless steel and black diamond. Have to hand it to Noble for their out of the box choice of materials, aesthetics and finishing.
I also finally got to try the mythical Rhapsodio Supreme V3. And I loved it. Probably a close to perfect sounding set with incredible bass and holography. Its a single driver design but I was informed that the driver type is neither DD nor BA. The V3 uses a proprietary 12mm Ultramag 5G Magnetostatic (MST) driver. Many may not want to shell out $6400 for a single driver design and I could never argue that this one is worth the price but its truly fantastic and I would buy it if I could get it on a reasonable discount. It has genuine all rounder credentials, given my preferences. Definite show highlight for me.
While on the topic of unique tech, the Soranik MEMS was also quite enjoyable. What stood out was how much its sound varied depending on whether you were driving it directly from its portable energizer amp or whether the energizer product was connected to a separate amp, a Topping A90 in this case. It was full-bodied and bassy on the energizer and brighter and colder with the A90 in chain. The difference was far from subtle: like listening to two different IEMs. I enjoyed both experiences but I understand some people may have decided that it is bright based on the Topping chain. But it actually has a pretty decent bass shelf.
I also tried the Nostalgia Audio Tesseract which was decent but probably unremarkable.
The Elysian Pilgrim Noir, however, was quite impressive for the price. As someone else said, it definitely retains the Elysian house sound but offers a beautiful bass, much better than the Anni’s, in terms of how tactile, “bouncy”, and impactful it sounds. Overall, a very nice IEM. Note that the shell design isn’t final.
I had a re-listen to the WM1ZM2 + Obsprey PB5 stack and although amps make a small difference to the sound of IEMs (and yes the delta varies between IEMs); for many it may be a decisive difference. I am still trying to decide how much I care about this difference having bought and sold a Tsuranagi paying full price then losing on the sale, so let’s see if I end up buying the PB5. I also listen to IEMs mostly lying down or in the car or at the gym and none of these use cases are conducive to daisy-chaining.
The purple cable pictured above and below is a total beauty and its called Thanos and its from Flash Acoustics.
The Mass Kobo 475 continues to be a delight but I probably prefer the PB5 to it for the latter’s richness of presentation and largeness of stage.
Lastly, I wanted to see how much the Jewel scales on some of the hottest solid state amps in the business: the Mass Kobo 465 and the Zahl HM1. Surprisingly, although the Jewel scales very noticeably on the Hifiman Serenade on my nightstand, it didn’t offer any noticeable increment in performance on either the 465 or the HM1. It sounded rather clinical on the HM1 and overly smooth and rich on the 465, which goes to show how insufficiently synergy is correlated with price.
Having experienced all the IEMs I wanted to (I couldn’t find the Monachhaa or the Traillii Ti; these two still evade me), I went on to try Sony’s new entry-level headphones, the MDR-MV1. I was so impressed that I immediately bought a pair. What a beautifully studio neutral sound with great bass, a certain width to the stage, and impressive levels of resolution for the price! It’s also so light. Before I bought it I made sure to try it off different sources and it impressed on all of them!
Of course I spent more time with the best product of Canjam Singapore 2023, the Raal 1995 Immanis. Two of my friends, who are serious summit-fi headphone collectors and enthusiasts immediately placed their orders. After listening to it for the third time today, I am 99% certain that they are a step above in performance from the Susvara or the TC or the X9000.
While they are unmistakably Raal in their speed, texture, resolution, and airiness; these babies have a very realistic bass impact, a tonally rich midrange, and a certain spookiness to how images just materialize from an inky black void. Everything just seems to flow, with vivid lifelike imaging, and certain cohesiveness that for the first time in 2 years made me miss full-size headphones. These do what no IEMs can. I recently brought in the Susvara and the Utopia and I prefer my IEMs to both. But the Immanis are a different beast. They are probably the best headphones on the market at present.
@Aleksandar R. took a lot of photos with us and here he is, as chill as ever, taking the exceeding praise his headphones received, with humility, calm and a striking normalcy. Kudos, mate.
The day ended up with some quintessential Singaporean cuisine thanks to the super awesome
@Roasty. Thanks for the treat, my friend.
My beloved wife joined me on day 2 for a tour of the floor and loved the action, the excitement and the collective audiophile passion.
Thus ended Canjam Singapore for me and although I didn’t make a whole lot of purchases, it was rewarding to see friends, old and new. See you all in 2025.
). I’ve offered to facilitate a tour, so let’s see how it goes. I’ll update when I have substantive news.
