Audio Exotics brings the art and precision of sonic truth to Hi-End Asia

Source: AE. The Engström Tube Suite will be on display at Hi-End Asia this year.

Audio Exotics (AE), a curator of ultra-high-end audio experiences, will be participating for the first time at the Hi-End Asia International Audio Visual Show, unveiling two system philosophies that embody its pursuit of musical purity, emotional truth, and the art of silence - according to AE, “Silence is not the absence of sound — it is the canvas upon which music breathes”.

The Engström Tube Suite with APL technology and Cessaro Horns features Lars 3 power amplifiers, a Monica preamplifier, and a M-Phono stage, paired with the APL Tube DAC and Streamer and voiced through Cessaro Horn loudspeakers. Together, the Engström–APL–Cessaro ensemble defines the art of purity: the natural liquidity of tubes, the serenity of design, and the living poetry of music in motion.

Engström embodies the rare Scandinavian synthesis of technical mastery and poetic minimalism. Each amplifier is designed to be both an instrument of power and a sculpture of sound and form. Hand-built in Sweden, the Lars 3 and Monica exude tonal refinement that balances warmth and transparency, delivering a sound described by reviewers as “liquid, dimensional, and emotionally luminous”. Their aesthetics — glass, copper, and wood in architectural harmony — evoke serenity and purity.

The APL Tube DAC and Streamer, crafted by Alex Peychev Laboratories (APL) in Bulgaria, continues this tradition of emotional digital playback. Its fully discrete tube output stage, handmatched components, and proprietary digital topology transform bits into breath. Anchoring the system are Cessaro Horn loudspeakers, hand-built in Germany, whose dynamics and tonal realism make music feel physically alive, AE said.

The Göbel High End & JMF Solid-State Suite and the Stellavox IDEM mono amplifier expresses the opposite pole of Audio Exotics’ philosophy — the precision of silence and the architecture of control.

Göbel High End loudspeakers from Germany translate material science into emotion. Their proprietary bending-wave driver technology and resonance-optimised construction unveil textures and micro-details that transcend traditional loudspeaker boundaries.

Driving them are JMF Audio electronics from France — precision-crafted amplifiers and converters born from professional mastering heritage. Assembled by hand in the Jura mountains, each JMF component is designed for neutrality, power, and silence. Their amplifiers reveal the full dynamic energy of a recording while preserving the intimacy of a human voice or the decay of a string.

The Pink Faun Ultra 2.16 music transport from the Netherlands anchors the digital stage with ultra-low-noise linear power supplies, OCXO clocking, and modular I²S architecture for true-time playback. Feeding into the Synästec DAC from Germany — a design that marries FPGA architecture with analogue finesse — the result is extraordinary transparency and tonal depth.

Touraj Moghaddam, founder of Vertere Acoustics and one of the visionaries of modern turntable design, will personally present his turntables in both systems. His presence bridges the tactile beauty of analogue with AE’s philosophy of curated listening — a testament that music, when faithfully rendered, unites all forms of technology and craft.

Details

Hi-End Asia will be held from 23 October to 25 October 2025 at level 3, Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre. Get tickets from www.hiendasia.com

Audio Exotics has sponsored a premium lucky draw prize for the event, an Ediscreation Fiber Box Mk. II, valued at S$2,500. This advanced fibre isolation system is designed to deliver cleaner, purer signal transmission for the ultimate audiophile experience.

All ticket holders are automatically entered into the lucky draw.

*DAC stands for digital-to-analogue converter; and FPGA for field-programmable gate array. 

Projectors compete with LCD displays in business scenarios

Epson Singapore, the No. 1 projector brand in the world for 16 consecutive years, believes that projectors are important communication tools that can be used to engage audiences in new ways. Toshimitsu Tanaka, MD, Epson Singapore and Southeast Asia said that projectors are ideal not only for basic communications, but also for digital signage and outdoor projection mapping. 

“Epson pioneered the 3LCD technology in the 1980s. In 1989, we launched our first 3LCD projector, the VPJ-700. Since then, Epson continues its commitment to offering projectors that lead the world in technology, innovation and quality," he said.

Tanaka-san spoke of Epson's market leadership in projectors. 

"Today, we continue to hold the dominant market leadership position as the leading projector brand for 16 years and running that takes care of the little details using the most innovative technology in the world. In Southeast Asia, our market share is at 37.7% as of FYQ117, according to FutureSource Consulting and we pride ourselves on bringing exceptional value to our customers.”

Tan talked about Epson's focus on details as a differentiating factor. It's in the Details is the tagline for the

new Epson pan-Asia B2B brand campaign. "To achieve enduring success we take pride in our attention to details and innovation. Details are what turns ideas, dreams and the future into reality," she said. "The proposition in our campaign (is that) innovation always works better when you are able to control the details. We're able to do that through our vertically integrated model."

In addition, the company said that innovation works best when attention is paid to the details. Tan May Lin, GM (Sales, Marketing and Customer Service division) of Epson Singapore said, “When it comes to developing new technologies and innovations, we believe that it’s our attention to detail that makes a fundamental difference and sets us apart from our competitors. These details come from listening to what our customers want from our products, and satisfying their needs by designing products that exceed their expectations.

"In terms of Epson’s projection innovation, every component in our projectors is created with the same obsessive attention to detail to ensure spectacular performance that will stun even the biggest crowd.”

From left, Joseph Mak, Sales Manager Asia Pacific, Milestone AV Technologies, Daniel Poh, Asia Sales Director, Extron Electronics Asia, Amy Kwa, Head of Department SEA, Visual Products Department, Epson Singapore, Adrian Tan, Technical Sales Account Manager (ASEAN countries), SOTI, and emcee Charlene. Epson’s Projection Conference & Showcase is supported by Extron Electronics Asia, SOTI, and Milestone AV Technologies. Technologies from all three partners were part of the integrated solutions at Epson Town. The display onstage, seen behind the panelists, is from the world's brightest 3LCD laser projector, installed at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. The EB-L25000U laser projector is low-maintenance and capable of displaying images at 25,000 lumens.

Amy Kwa, Head of Department SEA, Visual Products Department, Epson Singapore said that projectors are very versatile display solutions as they can be used in almost any space. "You just have to find the right projector," she said.

She also pointed out that projectors can be used for digital signage and are able to turn any type of surface into a screen, so that physical signage - which is time-consuming to create and set up, and permanent - is no longer required. "The projections are distortion-free," she said. "It can be very immersive and transforms the whole event experience. You can (bring) your imagination to life. That's what the public wants today."

Projectors can also turn existing surfaces such as tables and walls into interactive touchscreens, which is ideal for students who have grown up with touch technology, she added. "(We have) cost-effective solutions for schools that want to look into an interactive experience. (They have) the flexibility and the scalability in terms of image size."

Reliability and durability are the two key customer requirements for projectors today, she added. One of Epson's value propositions is longer-lasting components with its laser projector family, so that lamps only need to be replaced after two years or 20,000 hours, whichever comes first. "Laser projector solutions are for end users who really want a projector that can save them the hassle," she said.

Source: Epson Singapore. Epson Town has a museum, cafe, a school, offices and a home.

Epson built an entire town to showcase 3LCD and laser projection innovations that transform everyday life as part of the Epson Projection Conference & Showcase 2017, which was themed From Pixel to Physical. Delegates experienced live demonstrations of projector applications in areas such as education, corporate, home, retail, as well as public settings for businesses and consumers at Epson Town.

The Epson EB-696Ui, EB-695Wi and EB-W41 projectors were used at Epson Institute to create classroom scenarios.

A demonstration of a projected 65" screen to show how readable the text is at this size. The 4-6-8

 rule is often used to define optimal viewing distance, ie the height of the display should be 4x the maximum distance from the display to the participants for analytical viewing, and 6x for basic viewing, said booth representative Brian. An 8x height is best for passive viewing, as in playing movies or videos. LCD panels conforming to the rule may not offer the same experience as a projection.

A visualiser device sends an image of two apples to two different projectors, a competitor's single-chip digital light processor (DLP) projector on the left, and to an Epson 3LCD projector on the right. Single-chip DLP projectors display a single primary colour at a time, resulting in less vibrant images, whereas 3LCD projectors display all the colours at once for up to 3x brighter colours. The stripe effect only shows up through the camera; in real life the colours for the image on the left merely looked duller.

Placing a projector on one side of a folding table allows students to crowd round and interact with the screen. Watch the Instavideo of the table being used as a tablet.

At Epson Institute, an academic setting, Epson showed how interactive ultra-short throw projector technology can accommodate larger screen sizes with more readable details. The interactive support means that the screen is effectively a large tablet.

A recent study in the US by Radius Global Market Research found that 58% of students in an average classroom are unable to read content displayed on a 70" flat panel display. While displays are limited by their size, projected images are not restricted to a specific size and can go up to as much as 100". In addition, students and teachers can interact together with such projectors using gestures or pens, without having to power up a PC.

Daniel Poh, Asia Sales Director, Extron Electronics Asia, said that his company is focused on user-friendly, robust and reliable products. The solution at Epson Institute makes use of Extron collaboration technology that connects up to 50 devices to ensure that students can collaborate. The collaboration platform controls all the devices and switches the image source from one device to another. Access is with a keycard for security. "Any cable that you plug into the teacher's laptop will (trigger a) switchover automatically," Poh said.

Joseph Mak, Sales Manager Asia Pacific, Milestone AV Technologies, said the Da-Lite IDEA projection screen at Epson Institute is ideal for educational use. It works as a conventional whiteboard problem that is erasable and magnetic, but unlike a whiteboard does not have "hotspots", or reflective areas, when it is used as a projection surface.

In the videoconferencing scenario, an Epson interactive projector is used with a Da-Lite screen as the projection surface. A Vaddio conferenceSHOT AV device in front of the booth representative transmits the video for videoconferencing. Both the screen and the device are from Epson partner Milestone AV Technologies. Watch the Instavideo at Epson Tower.

Interactive projection systems allow annotation on shared screens sent from other devices, like a laptop.

Epson Tower featured two offices videoconferencing each other. The interactive projection system, starring the Epson EB-1460Ui projector, acts as a smart collaboration platform for sharing and co-authoring with others, and supports screens shared from PCs and mobile devices. The scenario featured a 94" projection onto a Da-Lite IDEA screen that could be annotated. Up to 50 screens' worth of data can be saved, emailed or printed.

The EB-G7905U projector controls the signage projected onto a wall, including onto a 3D mug shape, while football games are projected onto another wall by the projector on the left, the EB-2265U. There is no need to dim the lights if the projector can display images with a high number of lumens. Watch the Instavideo of images being projected onto the mug shape.

Epson Cafe showcased new retail concepts to attract customers. Epson’s ultra-short throw projectors enable retailers to project a large screen within a compact area to create a specific ambience, and can project images on walls, ceilings and floors or 3D objects. Digital signage does not have to be reprinted and reinstalled, the booth representative said. The EB-G7905U mapped animated images onto a 3D surface for signage, and the EB-2265U was used for broadcasting football games.

Explore:

A discussion on challenges for readability and projection, and the DISCAS standard

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about Epson's B2B focus

BeoPlay H8 wireless headphones debut in Singapore

Beo Play H8 in argilla bright.

BANG & OLUFSEN have designed wireless headphones that are both elegant and long on battery life. B&O PLAY by BANG & OLUFSEN features an aluminium touch interface and up to 14 hours of battery lifetime with active noise cancellation in a sleek, lightweight design.

BeoPlay H8 on-ear headphones from B&O PLAY by BANG &
OLUFSEN are controlled by gestures on the aluminium-clad ear cup. Taps and swipes can be used to control activities such as answering calls, volume control, track selection or activating active noise cancellation. 

"Combined with the acclaimed Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound, premium materials and the low weight it is not just another headphone on the market, it is simply one the best product of its kind," said Henrik Taudorf Lorensen, Head of B&O PLAY.

Crafted from premium materials such as anodised aluminium, cowhide leather and lambskin, BeoPlay H8 weighs 255g and is designed by the award-winning Danish industrial designer Jakob Wagner. "With BeoPlay H8 we have made something complex simple and easy to use," said Wagner. "It has been a focus of ours to use the right materials in an intelligent way, so you can concentrate on the listening experience while enjoying intuitive usability."

BeoPlay H8 is available in gray hazel and argilla bright and costs S$698. It is available at selected EpiCentre, Infinite, iStudio, Nubox & Polaris outlets; AV One, Challenger, Courts, ConnectIT, Digital Style, Harvey Norman, Newstead, Parisilk, Sprint-Cass (Changi Airport T1, T2 & T3), and SoundWaves Studio & Stereo. It can also be obtained online at HipVan and TREOO.COM.