Disclaimer
Thank you Justin from Gloryrain for providing Chawanmushi for my most honest opinion. I am not affiliated with Gloryrain and no monetary awards in any format is offered.
Introduction
Gloryrain is a local cable manufacturer who focus in providing affordable upgrade cable for fellow audiophiles in Singapore. Before approaching founder of Gloryrain, Justin for this review, I have been observed Gloryrain's releases on Carousell (a selling platform in Singapore). If I were to choose one word to describe Gloryrain, passionate will be the word. A lot of designs (different combinations of materials) have been done by him and I really wish to try all of them.
High degree of freedom is available for this model. User can choose desired jack and connector upon ordering. All the cables are hand-built by Justin after order is placed. Chawanmushi is the entry level for Gloryrain's release. It consists of 28 AWG silver-plated copper (SPC) wires. There are 2 variants for this model - 4 cores and 8 cores. I received an eight cores Chawanmushi for review purpose.
Unboxing
I am a lucky owner for this cable because I got this cable just after Gloryrain changed their packaging. The overall packaging is minimalist and simplistic. Chawanmushi sits comfortably in a brown envelope. On top of the brown envelope, there is the Gloryrain logo. I like the Chinese name of this company on the logo, 恩雨.
Most of the aftermarket cables in the market have a very simple packaging - cable in the box. There is a very touching move by Gloryrain make my impression to them even more positive - there is a leather cable management clip included in the packaging. I really like the clip and I think it should be a compulsory accessory for all the aftermarket cables.
Build
I chose 0.78mm 2 pin connector and 2.5mm balanced jack for my Chawanmushi. Justin is very professional and knowledgable. He understand the different characteristics for different jacks and connectors. He always choose the suitable one for his customers.
Classy and stylish - The 2 pin connectors have a very classy look - silver and shiny housing to protect the 2 pin. Moving down, the y-split has a same colour signature with the connector - a silver y-split with carbon fibre pattern on it. I always like carbon fibre pattern. This is similar to a lot of boutique aftermarket cables in the market such as Effect Audio. The 2.5mm jack is very special - it is very compact. After talking to Justin, understanding that the jack is from Taiwan and it is one of the most compact jack with high quality.
Rigid and sturdy - I think the eight cores cable can give sufficient strength to sustain accidentally strain to the cable. I believe most of the Singaporeans have this experience - random auntie walk pass you and her handbag hooks into your premium cable and she just pull it like nobody business. Heatache, heart pain and heart attack. I believe Gloryrain Chawanmushi 8 Cores should have sufficient durability to withstand this unavoidable accident.
Sound
The overall sound signature for Chawanmushi is at the warmer side. Recently I am pampered by bunch of lush sounding IEMs and Chawanmushi comes in at the right time to satify my craves towards silky smooth sound signature. I will do three matchings for this review.
Jomo Audio Haka
Jomo Audio Haka is my favourite single balanced armature (BA) driver IEMs. It potrays a neutral sound signature with great cohension over the frequency spectrum. For those who are interested in the sound signature of Jomo Audio Haka, you can read the detailed review posted earlier. After replacing the original stock cable to Chawanmushi, the overall colour and temperature turns warmer. It becomes more meaty and juicy.
The lows is deep - the soundstage is now more three-dimensions (3D) as compared to the original pairing. This could be a good upgrade for those who like strong bass. I am pretty satisfied with this pairing because the layering improved significantly. Due to the injected warmth, the mids are more emotional now. The smoothening effect actually make Jomo Audio Haka an IEMs that suitable for long listening.
Good pairing +1!
Simgot EK3
Similar to Jomo Audio Haka, Simgot EK3 is a neutral sounding IEMs. As compared to Jomo Audio Haka, it is slightly more analytical due to its faster attack and decay speeds. For those who want to know more about this IEMs, you can check my review on that. With the warmth in the Chawanmushi, this could be the best pairing among the three.
The warmth from Chawanmushi actually decrease the speed of Simgot EK3. This makes it more neutral and the technicality decreases. The lows is deeped now and more prominent as compared to the original pairing. I would say Chawanmushi could be the saviour for pure BA drivers IEMs because it can create a dynamic driver type of lows responses.
There are switches to boost the lows and highs frequency for Simgot. With Chawanmushi paired with it, please do not on the lows booster. It makes the overall sounding too agressive and I think I cannot handle a long listening with this setting. The mids is thicker. I think a hot chocolate flow through your throat in a cold winter would be the best description for the texture potrayed by EK3-Chawanmuchi pairing.
Good pairing +2!
TFZ No.3
This is a different pairing. TFZ No.3 has a warm and lush sound signature by itself. For those who are interested, you can take a look at my recent review on it. Adding Chawanmushi to TFZ No.3 will make it even warmer. The bass is empowered to bassheads level. It is fun to listen to but not very suitable for critical listening. I would call this a party pairing more than an audiophile pairing.
The fidelity from TFZ No.3 actually dropped. This could be due to overly smoothening from two warm sounding audio gears. The mids turns a little muddy. I think Chawanmushi would not be a correct choice for a warm IEMs. TFZ No.3 is the shy region for the frequency spectrum and Chawanmushi actually pulled the performance even backward.
Party pairing +1!
Conclusion
Gloryrain Chawanmushi has a warm and lush sounding which could be suitable for analytical or bright sounding IEMs. It can be the treble slayer. Chawanmushi retails at SGD$65 for 4 cores and SGD$109 for 8 cores. It is definitely a good upgrade cables for a lot of entry-level and mid tier IEMs. If you are interested, you can check out this model at Gloryrain carousell page. Alternatively, you can send a message to enquire at Gloryrain Instagram page.
On behalf of the audiophile community, we are happy to have Gloryrain as our local cable manufacturer! Good job on Chawanmushi!