Quick thoughts from day zero in Singapore, as I wind down and get ready for tomorrow:
- Singapore seems to get greener every time I visit. My last visit was 4 years ago. Just love the gardens, the foliage, and overall landscaping of the city.
- Pan Pacific is a decent hotel but property prices in Singa are no joke. Check-in was fast enough. Great location. View of the Marina Bay Sands never gets old.
- I wasted no time jetting to Jaben after I checked in. I wanted to have some quiet time listening to a few products I was considering buying, including the Turii Ti, Hiby RS8, Multiverse Mentor (second listen), and L&P P6 Pro.
- Was pleasantly surprised to be greeted outside of Jaben by fellow Head-Fier
@Mattyjm. Flattered he recognized me from my channel. Equally surprised to run into
@HiFiHawaii808 and
@drftr inside Jaben and other cool coolers. Look forward to hanging with you guys more tomorrow.
- Wilson Uncle of Jaben is a legend. Kind, gentle and knowledgeable.
- Was excited to see three units of the Subtonic Storm lying around with the cooler posse. Wasted no time in trying it. I tried it off the PW Orpheus and both my Sony WM1ZM2 and the Hiby RS8. What an impressive IEM! So resolving! Great speed and an immersive soundstage thats both wide and deep. I am not sure if it is ideal for genres I prefer (rock and metal) for which I gravitate towards dynamic drivers reproducing bass. But its easily one of the most impressive IEMs I have ever heard.
I was also blown away by how immersive the L&P P6 Pro is. I also didn’t expect the DAP to be as small as it is in real life. And the sound….so, so good…colored in all the right ways. Colored yet natural and convincing. Every IEM I threw at it sounded great, across genres.
- Technical performance wise, I wouldn’t say the P6 Pro bests my WM1ZM2. But somehow it manages to sound more lifelike than the Sony (only evident on A/B-ing). The Sony DAP still has a wider stage and a bit more midbass emphasis. The P6 Pro has a narrower stage and slightly more subbass emphasis. But the P6 Pro bested my Sony for timbre and for that I am now considering buying it.
- The Hiby RS8 sounded nice but to my ears the WM1ZM2 is both more resolving and more natural-sounding. There is something a bit odd about the RS8 treble. It was a bit distracting on certain poorly mastered tracks. However, to give credit where its due, the Sony DAP needs an upper-mids boost to “fix” its stock tuning. Otherwise, it sounds too warm in that region. The Hiby doesn’t “require” such an adjustment to its stock tuning. It is an easy adjustment however and once done, I definitely prefer the Sony to the Hiby.
- The Softears Turii Ti is probably not my jam. A bit too trebley for my genres but formidable with jazz.
- The
@UniqueMelody Multiverse Mentor is indeed an impressive IEM. Large images, as good as BA bass gets, and very detailed. The shells look a little cheap to me and there’s a chance one may bore of the rather safe tuning but I liked the IEM a lot more this time around.
- Last but not least, tried the UMFusang for the first time. Didn’t expect to like it but it wasn’t half bad. Need more time with it but it’s definitely a pleasant listen with decent tonality and technical performance.
Day ended with a chat with none other than
@Sebastien Chiu. Lovely conversation with Sebastian on the industry, the Singapore market, innovations coming out from younger companies, and the future of the hobby.
So that’s that for day zero, before the actual festivities begin tomorrow.
Dunno if they still have it, but I love their Congee station. We have nothing like that here in the States. 
CanJam Singapore 2023 is now open! 
