High End Asia Singapore 2024

High-End Asia International Audio Visual Show ran from 6-8 September 2024, the second show after its inaugural launch last year.

Spanning three floors, the exhibitors included both local and international participants. The large exhibition rooms were situated on the 2nd floor, while the rest of the exhibitors on the 23rd and 24th floor. The general show quality was quite high and worth the visit. A number of interesting workshops and events were planned, including a turntable setup workshop conducted by Richard Mak and live music performances. 

Here is a short video with recordings of some of the systems I heard. 

Audio Basic

Steven Cheah of Audio Basic kindly arranged for me to have an interview with Hideki Kato, Chief Designer of Soulnote Inc, Japan. Here is a summary of our interview:-

Eric : I'm familiar with Soulnote products having heard them many times at Audio Basic. I’m very impressed with how much performance Soulnote delivers for its asking price. 

Kato : (Laughs) The sound quality and price do not have any correspondence. First, I need to have a complete idea of what sound I want to achieve and then I pick the necessary parts to deliver that. Sometimes, the parts are really expensive, sometimes they are cheap. 

Eric : What would you say is the most important part of a component? The circuit or power supply?

Kato : Simplicity - you should only use what is necessary, nothing else.

Eric : Out of your products, which are you most proud of?

Kato : All of them!

Eric : Sorry, it’s like asking who is your favourite child.

Kato : But if you ask me to choose, it would be the E2 phono equalizer. The reason is that there were many challenges in designing this product, especially the circuit for the optical cartridge.

Eric : Optical cartridges are special. I tried the DS Audio cartridge last month. What do you think makes optical cartridges so special? Is it difficult to design an optical phono stage?

Kato : Well, there is the freedom from omitting the magnet. Designing an optical stage requires special care with the power supply that feeds the cartridge LED. It has a lot of influence on the sound quality. The amplifier stage itself is comparatively simple.

Eric : I find it curious that the power supply is conducted through the phono wire which is so thin. Are there any special challenges as a result?

Kato : The standards are defined by DS Audio. It isn’t ideal, but there are still advantages. 

Eric : If you could have your way, would you have the power supply fed directly to the cartridge?

Kato : I actually suggested that to DS Audio, but they didn’t accept my suggestion. 

Eric : I suppose there is no choice in order to maintain compatibility with existing equipment in the market.

Kato : For the E3, there is a special cable with a separate power supply for the cartridge. Just before the cartridge, the power supply is combined. You get much better sound with that approach.

Eric : Can you share what equipment you use at home?

Kato : I have children at home, so it’s quite dangerous to have equipment at home. I have YG Hailey speakers in the office, Soulnote electronics and a Vertere turntable.

Eric : Do you have any advice for audiophiles?

Kato : The most important thing is to have your own direction rather than listening to what other people say. What may be regarded as a good or high-quality approach by others may not be suited for a specific individual.

Eric : Great advice! Thank you so much for your time Kato-san. 

Yours truly and Kato-san of Soulnote Inc, Japan.

Simplicity Control and GAIT

Glass diaphragm speaker anyone? 

GAIT of Taiwan had a variety of glass cone and dome drivers on display

Transparent sound (pun intended), especially at lower to mid-level volumes

GAIT were showing their glass diaphragm speaker drivers. According to my conversations with them, they are able to make drivers up to 8 inches. The diaphragms are as tough as gorilla glass and able to withstand 20kg of force before shattering. The drive units cover a wide frequency range and have relatively benign break-up modes. As glass is relatively heavy, the downside is lower sensitivity.  

Nuprime and Audiomis

Amazing sound from tiny bookshelf speakers. I was nodding with approval before I was informed that I was listening to the tiny MC-4SE, the smaller of the two speakers on display. With a 4.5 inch woofer, I can't quite figure out how they delivered so much bass. Needless to say, they imaged and staged superbly too. 

Audionote Singapore

I spied Peter Qvortrup sitting in the corner of the room. The room sounded even better than previous years, so I guess Papa must have sprinkled magic dust on his children. 

Audionote Singapore

Audio Maestro and Audio Perfectionist

JW Speaker Lab

JW Speaker Lab of Malaysia were showing their floorstanding speaker featuring SB Acoustic drivers

Interesting looking speakers hailing from across the Causeway. The speaker on demo featured a ring-radiator tweeter and ceramic woofers from SB Acoustics.

Oopiib - Live Performance

Sadly, this was the only live performance I managed to catch. Great voice and performance!

Obit Audio and Diesis Audio

Obit Audio and Diesis speakers. Sadly this setup was not playing music when I visited

More than one visitor told me that this was the room to visit. Sadly, I was not fated to hear this system.

Ong Radio

Point

Point were showing their electronics and AC-conditioning device

A very brave demonstration with bookshelf speakers on the floor, and Youtube as a source. Notwithstanding that, the system sounded quite good, with clear differences heard as the AC-conditioning device was swapped in and out of the system. The gentleman reminded me of my old squash coach that thrashed me playing with a wooden racket in his left hand (he was right-handed).

Richard Mak - Turntable setup workshop

Sound Decisions

Sound Decisions were showing Kii's new model, the SEVEN speaker system

Kii Control - the key to connectivity and control over your SEVEN speaker

Great sound and dynamics. With bass extension that challenges most floorstanders, this little beast represents the way of the future. 

Audioline - TAD

High End Research

Goldmund, Metronome and Wilson Watt

This sounded great. Although Wilson Audio speakers are not usually to my taste, this setup had great resolution and dynamics.