https://www.nativedsd.com/albums/GRV1200-i-want-you

Vanessa is a fellow Singaporean singer whose roots can be traced back to her earlier years as a church gospel singer. Her voice has a wide dynamic range, rich and soulful. This is a full- analog recording, meaning there are some audible tape hiss when the earphone on test is highly-resolving. Being analog also means there are very rich harmonics in every tracks especially in the guitar and percussion . Her band is top-notch and consists of some of the best in the industry – Tim Pierce on guitars, Alex Al on bass, and Luis Conte on percussion.

The first track I usually dial up is “I Want You”. The sound should appear spacious with lots of room between each instruments. Vanessa’s voice should come as smoky, rich, deep and layered. On some earphones like the TFZ No. 3, her voice sounds congested and muddy. The entire band should not overtake and bury her vocal. Every artist has his/hers breathing space.

Since this album is recorded in real-time (meaning all artistes performing together inside one studio), you can sense the interaction and chemistry between them.

I usually can tell, in a nutshell, how good an earphone is just by listening to this album. I will ALWAYS have this album inside my desktop, DAP and mobile phone. As for the Hi-Fi side of me, I will bring along the SACD disk to auditions.