Teo Yong Shun, Author at Headphonesty

Covering the latest, greatest, and most interesting portable hi-fi equipment available at CanJam Singapore 2022. After 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the 5th edition of CanJam Singapore returned to the Pan Pacific Hotel. In over 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, CanJam Singapore 2022 featured more than 100 leading brands showcasing a wide variety of headphones and personal audio electronics at all price points - from $50 earbuds to $50,000 headphone audio systems. Pan Pacific Singapore is situated in Marina Bay, the heart of Singapore's business, entertainment, and shopping districts, which is the ideal starting point from which to explore the city's many attractions. Popular attractions, including Marina Bay Sands, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay, and part of the Formula One racing circuit, can also be reached on foot. CanJam proclaims “Experience your music in a new way and #ListenLikeNeverBefore!” My Show Favourites. JOMO Audio 308 Spyder FiR Audio Neon 4 Biggest Surprise. MoonRiver 2 Gear Used. DAPs: Lotoo PAW 6000, Sony NW-A105 Dongles: Lotoo PAW S1, Venture Electronics Megatron Portable Amplifier: ALO Audio RX Nickel Edition IEMs: Nostalgia Audio Benbulbin, ItsFitLab Fusion, AAW A3H+, Origami Audio Silver Astell & Kern. While Astell & Kern has worked with companies like JH Audio and Campfire Audio, they have never released a fully branded earphone under the A&K name. A&K has recently moved away from being exclusively a DAP manufacturer with the release of the A&K Zero 1, the company's first pair of IEMs. With its own unique design, A&K's IEMs immediately stand out. They share a similar rigid design as some of their DAPs, which already makes A&K as an IEM brand recognizable. Despite their angular shape and large housing, they have a small spout which makes them easier to insert into the ear. Initially, you can still feel them, but after a while, they become less bothersome, and their support is one of their best qualities. It's time for A&K to show off their abilities with their first branded IEMs, following other successful collaborations in the past. When I started playing a few test tracks to see how the soundstage works, I found the results to be less than ideal. Their width allows them to provide adequate immersion, but panning elements to the extreme left and right would improve the imaging. DITA Audio. Celebrating their 10 year anniversary, DITA Audio showcased their latest release, the Perpetua. There are lots of new implementations in the Perpetua, such as a new PPT-D 12mm dynamic driver, coil/over cable, silver internal cable, and new interchangeable plug. With the implementation of DITA's new 12mm PPT-D Driver, Perpetua's bass sounds warmer, enveloping, and bolder than ever. Rather than starting and stopping immediately, the mid-bass hump is more naturally decayed, creating a more emotional and realistic listening experience. Perpetua's sound signature is enriched by a greater musicality, and even the lower end of the spectrum is able to be heard clearly. The midrange is vulnerable to being crowded as this is where the majority of major instruments reside and vocal melodies are heard. In Perpetua, one finds a well-resolved, well-layered, and spacious midrange. They assist the listener in savoring the finer details, even in already familiar tracks. High-frequency sounds are airy and well-extended. In a seamless manner, Perpetua's sound is enhanced with well-defined, high-definition imaging. These two elements give Perpetua a cohesive presentation. EarMen. EarMen has been developing tube amplifiers for more than a decade. They are focused on achieving a neutral, clean, and natural sound that is packaged in a stylish and quality design. EarMen was born from the desire to make sound available to a broader audience. In fact, they realized long ago that it's not all about measurements and results from paper, thus they don't even compete in this format, as perfect sound isn't about measurements, it's about the personal experience of something pure that performers bring to us. Their motto is “sound above all”. Eagle. Apple and Android compatible, the EarMen Eagle USB DAC & Headphone Amp is a high-performance pocket-friendly solution. With ESS ES9280 C PRO on the Eagle, you can enjoy high sound quality with a Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise (THD+N) < 0.002%. The EarMen Eagle sounds marginally off neutral with a bit of added warmth. It is warm enough to work with natural sounding earphones, while neutral enough to work with warm earphones. Therefore, it is flexible with pairing. The soundscape is very wide, while the timbre is very natural, with no harshness or grain. There is a sense of ease in the voice, the image has a natural timbre, and the clarity and transparency are great. Ultimately, the presentation is quite musical, nothing is in any way rigid or artificial. There are no shortcomings of the Eagle, sonically, but rather everything is perfect. Sparrow. The EarMen Sparrow is a USB dongle-like, high-quality DAC and amplifier, similar to the AudioQuest DragonFly and the Lotoo PAW S1. In EarMen's definition, the Sparrow was designed to process digital sound for enhanced clarity and precision. The Sparrow delivers audio close to the original studio recording. When running in single-ended mode, you get a noiseless, clean, detailed, and clear sound. It's a very linear, balanced sound, but it's more intimate or inside your head. It has a good balance between bass and highs. Bass is tight, deep, and fast, vocals are excellent, and the treble region is energetic and lively. There is good layering and depth to the recording as well. The tuning is linear and neutral. The balanced mode creates a more natural, spacious, out-of-your-head presentation, with greater extension from top to bottom. As well as note extension, decay, and micro details, the depth, and layering have all improved dramatically. Although the bass goes deep and well rumbled, the tightness of it is lost a bit. I love the smooth, well-blended texture and timbre. The mids are intricate, dynamic, and extremely musical, and the vocals are smooth, memorable, and addictive. There is an extended treble section with subtle nuances and a high degree of energy. There is less linearity in the balanced output, but a higher level of musicality and technicality. Effect Audio. In conjunction with CanJam Singapore, Effect Audio brought their 6 prototypes of the Signature Series cables to gather opinions from fellow audiophiles. Ultimately, they will choose 3 prototypes that are more well-received by audiophiles. I had an opportunity to audition all six of them. The P39 is a 24WG four silver-plated copper wire braided cable. It is an open-sounding cable that improves spatial audio capability and imaging. The sound signature is neutral and with good transparency. It does not change the sound signature significantly but improves aspects like the separation and the strength of each note. The P39 is a great choice for those who are looking to retain the stock sound signature. It helps to tighten the bass too! The P38 is a 24 AWG four pure copper Litz wire braided cable. It is a more polite and reserved option compared to P39. The overall sound signature touches slightly on the warmer side. However, as compared with other typical copper cables, the warmth is not drastic. It retains the neutrality of IEMs well and adds a touch of warmth. On the other hand, the 24 AWG four strand pure copper wire braided cable P36 is more tame and obedient compared to P38. The sound signature touches slightly on the warm side too, but less so than P38 and is closer to neutral. The notes on IEMs are more distanced with P36. It’s relaxing to listen to it. For those bright and aggressive IEMs, this would be a good cable. The P32 is a 26 AWG eight pure silver and a pure copper hybrid braided cable. Its characteristics are in between the bolder P39 and tamed P38. The sound signature retaining capability and transparency is the best. I find the layering of my IEMs is improved by the P32. It definitely has my vote! The P32 color scheme is special! The P31 is a a 26 AWG eight pure copper wire braided cable, and sounds very engaging, very very engaging. It pushes the staging closer to the audience. For those IEMs that are already pretty forward, it might not be a good choice. However, it will be a perfect choice for those IEMs that are more conservative in tuning. Last but not least, the P37 is bold but controlled. It is not as aggressive as P39. The overall presentation is definitely more comfortable. The signature is close to P39 but more refined. It is a 24 AWG 4 silver-plated copper Litz wire braided cable. I cast my vote for three models, namely the P32, P38, and P36. I am looking forward to seeing which models will be the finalists of the Signature series. Element Technology (Eletech) Located in Singapore, Element Technology (Eletech) is a cable manufacturing company driven by innovation. Eric Chong, a prominent figure in the cable segment of the head-fi industry, and Wang, a material specialist with decades of experience in the arts of materials engineering, founded this company together. Using the perfect symbiosis of musicality, technology, design, and innovation, Eletech explores unconventional approaches to developing the zenith of cables. In CanJam Singapore 2022, they brought three prototype cables for their upcoming “L” series - Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. After listening to all three of them, I provided my honest feedback to Eric. Alpha has a good boost in the sub-bass region, making the IEMs paired with it to be very energetic. It could be a great pairing for those IEMs that are more analytical or colder sounding. Beta focuses more on the upper midrange and treble, making the sound signature turn bright. This could be a savior for those IEMs that are warmer and too textured. However, I find that some of the details were...

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