HiEnd Asia Singapore 2023

 

The HiEnd Asia Singapore 2023 show kicked off today with a bang. Louis Chew, the main man behind this inaugural show officially launched and opened the show at about 945 am. It was a defining moment to many of the people who were involved in setting up this show since Dec 2022.

This show is spreaded out over 3 levels in this Sofitel Hotel, City Centre in Singapore. Spanning on Level 5, 7 and 8, the organiser have brought something different to the a hifi show bu having a series of seminars, talks and also live performances by regional artists such as Oopib and Jacyntha.

For more pictures, please visit my El Hefe Hifi Facebook and also featured on Mono and Stereo page here and here.

LEVEL 5

On Level 5 itself, there were 3 big rooms that offers visitors the opportunity to listen to some of the high end set ups.

In the Buni room, the mighty Avantgarde, Airtight and Lithospherelabs was set up by hifi.com.sg to wow visitors with not just their majestic looks, but also a very engaging system. They also had 3 different representatives of these brands to talk about what their set up is all about.

1230 pm - Jack Miura, Director of AirTight AMN Limited 

130 pm - Jerome Andre of Avantgarde Acoustic

330 pm - Emmanuel Lebraton of Lithospherlabs

In the Tembusu room, visitors were entertained by a combination of TAD, Audio Technica, Nagra and many more. This was also where Richard Mak conducted his talk on tips in setting up a turntable.

I had the pleasure to test out the monstrous Audio Technica Narukami headphone amp/pre amp with a turntable source. Beautifully designed and built, it can easily be an end game for any head-fiers if one can afford this unit.

The Saga room had 3 different systems set up.

1. ESD Acoustic, DS Audio, TAKATSUKI and EMM Labs

2. ESD Acoustic Aviator series

3. ESD Acoustic Panda Series 

The rest of the Level 5 floorspace was filled with LP and CD stalls, offering some rare collections. Yours truly spent about SGD320 on SACDs and MQA CDs.

Special set up by  Auu Impression of Impressice Sound Studio from Thailand

LEVEL 7

Audio Maestro, represented by Kenny Lim and Issac Ho hosted visitors in 2 room; Room 704 and 705

The Borressen X2 speakers were revealed for the first time to the whole world where it was paired with AXXESS Forte 2 integarted/streamer amp, Ansuz Acoustic A series of powerswitch, power distributor and cabling.

In the next room, visitors were entertained by a full Aavik 280 series equipment (pre, power amp, DAC and streamer) paired with Borressen Z1 speakers.

Ong Radio took up 3 rooms to show case B&W speakers and McIntosh Lab and Classe equipment. 2 rooms were live demos while the other one was on static 'McIntosh mini museum'

The biggest surprise for me was in Room 708. I have not heard of this brand Paragon Harmony but my first impression on this speaker is totally musical. Paired with TAD electronics, it was a very engaging demo. Their rep Alberto Madriz explained a few things about the design. With a sensitivity of 89 db, this speaker sounded really fluid and easy to drive.

Another suprise for me was Audiomaxim in Room 712. Petite speakers witha big sound. Simple set up but can be really engaging.

One of the biggest excitement I experience was in Room 715 where the Fischer&Foscher Kline speakers were featured.

Fischer&Fischer Klein speakers is one baby speakers that can really reach out deep into your emotion. This is one set up that gave me goosebumps when listening to Whitney Houston.

Paired with Audionet electronics, it was indeed a good match to mesmerize me.

Thank you William Whey for the demo and chit chat.

LEVEL 8

On level 8, AAA Audio  showcased a simple but yet a convincing sound. This set up can be demoed at Room 817.

In Room 804, you will be able to experience Peak speakers with Sower Audio amplification. A new sound to me and quite refreshing with enough guts.

Next door in Room 805,  Innuos, ATOLL Electronique, Amphion Loudspeakers is another worthy set up to visit.

In Room 816, you will be able to experience a vintage sound from JBL L100 MkII with its matching JBL amp and also ARCAM source CDS50. This pairinng have never failed to impress me.

Lukang Audio, speakers have been around in the scene in the past recent times and it had good feedback on the uniqueness of its sound. In Room 814, you will be able to experience the Spoey series speakers paired with Metronome and also EAhibrid battery power supply.

For Wilson Audio and Pass Labs fans, head on to High End Research room at Room 807 to enjoy this set up.

Another vintage sound experience can be experienced in Room 813. Hosted by Steve Sai of Sky Audio. Coherent Audio Loudspeakers paired with Aurorasound electronics were really engaging and enjoyable. Huge speakers with refined sound. 

Another big highlight of the day was the session by Khun Vattana of Tombo Audio on all their vibration management products especially on the gold Meow. This was done in Room 802.

Some other set up available to be experienced at this show:

In Room 801, BAYZ audio Courante is one  unique speaker design and capable to belt out a very engaging performance.

Brought to you by Project Perfection Pte Ltd .

Audiomis is another Taiwanese hifi brand that really surprised me alin this show. Founded by 2 musicians Jennifer Wang and Watson YE, they want listeners to get emotionally engaged with the products which includes speakers, tube pre, bluetooth speakers etc.

The bass response is fast and thumping. Most attendees were asking where is the subwoofer hidden including myself 😬. As a long time user of PMC, this speakers remind me of the 20.21 model but with deeper bass reach.

As this is written, there is a possibility for Audiomis to make its presence in Malaysia. Lets hope it will happen as I sincerely recommend the speakers as one of the candidates for anyone who would like to get into hifi as a beginner level.

OBIT audio offers an audio resonance control products based on about 10 years of R&D on materials. Combining brass alloy and silver based proprietary material, these 2 materials are fused together into layers with a specia welding technique to better manage the highs and lows of a system. 

Their products are highly sorted by professional pianist to assist them in live shows as part of their resonance control.

Comes in 3 sizes and able to support up to 150 kg speakers. These can also be used under turntables and amplifiers.

Speaking to Rui-Ren Chen, he calls his design as a sound harmonizer rather than a resonance eliminator.

In my personal observation... the overall show was a success from the perspective of showcasing a good mixture of Asian and other parts of the world HiFi set ups. The size of the show was actually just nice for a more relaxing and intimate engagement with product companies. Excellent work by the organizing team especially for a 1st time show.