There are small meets and there are big meets, but nothing got people more excited last year than the announcement that the March 2015 SoCal meet would be an official, dedicated CanJam. I attended last year’s SoCal meet and it was one of the nicest, most well-organised and enjoyable meets I’ve ever been to. Sadly it was only one day. This year the meet stretched to the whole weekend, enough to allow all the new, big amps and DACs to really warm up and everyone more time to come, listen and chat. In addition to the displays, there were also panels by members of the industry on their specialties. With over 1000 attendees, the show filled up 2 floors of the hotel plus the entire pavilion, the line of people waiting to get in stretching outside on Saturday morning and all rooms busy with people throughout both days.Before anything, a huge thanks goes to the organisers: Warren Chi (who not only put up the idea of a dedicated CanJam, but amongst creating all the graphics and doing much of the organisation, including spending 200 hours alone on the show guide and was so tired from working he fell asleep when we visiting Schiit Audio) and Ethan Opolion (third_eye), the main organisers; Andre Moore, Joe Cwik (who would not rest until the registration system was up-and-running perfectly) and, of course, Jude for pushing it through.
What was most wonderful was the chance to put faces to many of names on Head-Fi and chat to people we’d only ever met on the forums. It was also a chance for people in the industry to interact in a cosy space (compared to somewhere like CES) the result of which was like a live version of the forums, but with the companies and products being discussed very much present.
Bob (bearFNF), Audiohead, Brannan Mason from Noble Audio alongside
Harmony Hicks (from Enjoy the Music TV and Headphone.guru).Of course no event like this would be without the people that make the products, nor the members who took the time to set up their own rigs for us to experience the best DIY amps, vintage headphones and other components that we might not otherwise get a chance to experience.
MrSpeakers - Dan Clark
Tuesday before the show I was with Frank Iacone, Warren Chi, Andre and Dan Clark of MrSpeakers who was showing us the new Ether, the 100% home-grown planar magnetic headphones he had been working 2 years on to be finally released at CanJam. What became immediately apparent as we listened with different sources was that they very much an evolution of the previous flagship, the Maddog Alpha Primes — very neutral, very revealing and very reflective of the equipment used with them. As well as their fantastic reproduction of music, they are reasonably light and comfortable too, using the Nitinol memory alloy, which is normally used for orthodontic work, for the headband arcs. They immediately became my reference headphones, not just at the show (handy, because there were at least 16 pairs available at various tables) but my reference headphones full-stop.
While we were waiting patiently for Jude’s second CanJam video to upload, so we could start the thread about them, Dan talked to us about their design and development, including the amusingly named “DUM” cable that will be offered as an option.
One of the first questions people ask is: "Are they really worth as much as a pair of Sennheiser HD-800s?” and my answer is a definitive “Yes!” Like the HD-800s, you’ll need to be selective of the equipment to use with them to get the sound you want, but with a presentation that is not too….anything — not too bright, too forward, too bass-y — those seeking revelation rather than just thump will find what they are looking for here, with possibly only a far more expensive electrostat rig or as-yet-not-released pair of Hifiman HE-1000s exceeding them.
Cavalli Audio - Alex Cavalli
One of the amps that that Dan paired the Ethers with was the new Cavalli Audio Liquid Crimson. Alex Cavalli had the whole side of the room opposite MrSpeakers and a plethora of both old and new products. I tried the Liquid Crimson and its baby brother, the Liquid Carbon (in my hotel room with a Chord Hugo and Schiit Wyrd as the source). The Liquid Carbon will be the first inexpensive desktop Cavalli amp and was very impressive in how well it presented the music for what will be a relatively inexpensive, yet all discrete-component amp.
The Liquid Crimson likewise really hits the perfect spot between being lively, engaging, musical and detailed. While the Crimson is expensive, the Carbon is expected to be priced between $500-700, so I expect a lot of people will be building great-sounding rigs with it once it is released.
Ken Ball of ALO Audio and Vinnie Rossi
Another person with some serious gear on display was Vinnie Rossi who was sharing space with Ken Ball of ALO Audio, whose amps he helped design. Vinnie had the LIO on display, a highly modular DAC/amp/phono stage/headphone amp. Depending on the modules installed it was a custom system in a box. Not only that, but true to style, the unit is "battery powered" but not with conventional batteries, but ultra-capacitors.
Ken had two new amps on display, the new Rx, intended to be the ultimate IEM amp with ultra-low output impedance and dead silent operation. He also had a high-end portable DAC/tube amp, the Continental Dual Mono.
Schiit Audio - Jason Stoddard, Mike Moffat and crew.
Speaking of rigs, one of the highlights of the show was the new RYgg as I like to call it: Schiit Audio’s Ragnarok headphone and speaker amp and Yggdrasil DAC. Like Dan Clark did with the Ethers, Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat were keen to spread the love and there were three Yggdrasil DACs available, one each at the Schiit, MrSpeakers and Purrin’s member tables. As someone who values the quality of acoustic instrument sound above all else, I found the Yggdrasil DAC to be outstanding in all three rigs. With the Ragnarok and its neutral, black background-like tone, some people seemed to find it too much of a good thing and preferred the pairing of the Yggdrasil with the warmer Woo Audio WA5 at the MrSpeakers table.
The real highlight at the Schiit Audio table was not just the new statement products and many and varied amusing posters and t-shirts of their staff that play on the name, but hanging out with Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat and talking about everything from the industry and products, telling stories and, of course, making yet more jokes about their company name. See post #2 for the full details.
Chord - John Franks, Rob Watts and crew.
Another proponent of similar principles that has an equally long history of research in the digital domain is Robb Watts who designs the DACs for Chord Electronics. The small Hugo replaced much larger, heavier and hot equipment in my system and now is available in the Hugo TT version with features requested by Head-Fiers, such as a galvanically isolated USB input, a dedicated high-quality headphone amplifier, balanced output and a remote control. Unfortunately they didn’t request double the price, but even still it would be a single unit to both begin and end one’s search for a complete pre-amp and headphone-driving system. And it sits neatly on a desk.
Frank Iacone (Frank I) of Headphone.guru with John Franks and Tom Vaughan and Colin Pratt with Rob Watts.
Rob also entertained us with an interesting talk on the principles and development behind the Hugo, a summary of his posts on the forum if you like. He, alongside John Franks, Tom Vaughan and Colin Pratt of Chord manned their table and, like a live version of the Hugo thread, talked with members throughout the weekend. Interestingly, while photographing the Ultimate Ears tables where they were scanning peoples’ ears for free, I realised that Rob was getting his ears scanned as well and getting a pair of IEMs. Now we can really say he is part of the community!
Ultimate Ears - Philipe Depallens, Mike Dias and crew.
Ultimate Ears were offering a free digital ear scan to any members who tweeted or otherwise posted on social media about it. While their focus has moved almost entirely towards custom IEMs, they are working on making it easier and simpler for regular people to get them whereas in the past they were pretty much the domain of performers. On hand were their iPad-powered stations where you could effectively sample the entire range by putting only a single pair of special IEMs in your ears that contain the full range of drivers. The software would switch drivers on and off as required as well as adjusting the frequency response to that of each model. This makes it vastly easier for customers to choose the "sound" they are after, without tediously putting in and pulling out models repeatedly.
Prior to the show Ultimate Ears offered Head-Fi members a tour of their manufacturing facilities, including their new 3D-printed IEMs, which, alongside the digital ear-scanning, can be constructed far more accurately than using conventional methods, reducing the number of customers who have needed to send IEMs back for a refit. See post #3 below for the full tour.JHAudio - Jerry Harvey
Ethan (third_eye), Jerry Harvey and myself. Photo courtesy Audio-Head.
I was lucky enough to run into Jerry Harvey for the brief period that he came to CanJam, as he had a show with Van Halen on that night. I regret that I missed being present at the announcement in Tokyo of the new Angie and Layla, so this was my first chance to sample them at the show. I previously reviewed the Roxannes, and in a video review of the Astell&Kern AK240 I asked "How about this?" and showed the AK240 with them as a top-of-the-line portable rig. Well that rig can now be purchased outright directly from Astell&Kern dealers, as Jerry has partnered with them offer the universal models, with the custom versions of their IEMs requiring a direct purchase from JHAudio. It was the universal rig with the Laylas that I had a chance to sample with my own AK240 and music and suffice to say, the sound quality is outstanding. The Laylas, with their 12 drivers per side and 4th-order grade crossover have a coherence that is outstanding. Whatever Jerry hadn't yet succeeded in achieving with the Roxannes has well and truly been with the Laylas. If I didn't physically feel them in my ears I'd just about forget I was listening with IEMs. Though the price may be hair-raising, one only has to consider that a 12-driver-per-side pair of speakers of this degree of engineering would be vastly more expensive.
Noble Audio - Brannan Mason
Noble audio took the whole of one end of the pavilion at the show, fitting given what they had to show and their growing popularity. The Wizard is known for his progressively more amazing custom IEMs and this show was no exception. What was an exception was the announcement of a Bluetooth receiver/amp for them, as well as a pair of studio monitors. Of course, attempting to photograph their amazing custom IEM designs and try and show how incredible they look in reality would be futile, so I shall point you to their Instagram site instead.
Pendulumic - Mike Johnson and Chunbeng
The main guys behind the surprise bargain of last year's show where here again to announce the T1, the on-ear version of their Bluetooth headphones. Since the release of the S1 last year, from community feedback they made a number of changes resulting in the S1+, which at least for me makes them one of the very few pairs of relatively inexpensive headphones I enjoy listening with.
Final Audio Design - Shin Kikuchi
Shin Kikuchi of FAD flew all the way from Japan to show his numerous and unique IEMs and now full-sized headphones. Many people were especially interested in the Heaven VII and VIII which have taken on some of the design features of the limited edition and highly praised LAB IEMs.
Jude Hopper - JDS Labs
The guys from JDS Labs were on hand with their very good value and popular products, the O2 amp, O2 DAC and C5 amp.
Harry Lee - Aurender
The team from Korea, including Harry Lee, whom I interviewed in Tokyo, were on hand to demonstrate the unique Flow and other products.
Members' Tables
As well as the handful of members who took the time to haul gear to the show and put it on display, a number of members had modified various pairs of headphones which could be auditioned around the show. Quite a few of them ended up at the Schiit Audio table for some reason. So not only was it possible to sample a number of rare and long-discontinued high-end headphones, such as the Sony MDR-R10s, AKG K1000s and various Stax, but also experience quite a few interesting improvements on commercial designs, all the way up to the Abyss!Frank Cooter
Dan Meinwald of E.A.R. USA with Frank Iacone of Headphone.guru listening to Frank Cooter's amazing custom 'stat amp built for Jude. We were trying to persuade him that headphones can sound good.
Aaron (immtbiker), moderator and one of the first Head-Fi meet organisers listening to Frank Cooter's rig.
CrocCap
The rise of interest in planar headphones has brought a parallel interest in powering headphones directly from speaker amps, and a corresponding interest in vintage amplifiers.
Zashoomin
Ben had an awesome collection of self-built DIY amps, including the First Watt F4, Krell KSA 5 Klone and the highly-regarded AMB Beta 22. I enjoyed the KSA 5, but the real star was definitely the Beta 22 which was outstanding.
n3rdling
While not all of his collection was on display, n3rdling has accumulated a considerable number of out-of-production top-of-the-line headphones, such as the Sennheiser Orpheus, Sony MDR-R10 and Stax earspeakers. His amp collection isn't lacking, with a beautiful-sounding rig consisting at the show of the Headamp Aristaeus and rare Stax DAC-X2t fed with an Accuphase transport, which rivalled the best rigs on display at the show.
Ed Strelow
Ed has two obsessions: Stax, and sorbothane damping. Here he is with a number of headphones and associated gear. All the headphones had one form or another of sorbothane damping attached to lower vibrations and improve the sound.
SHaG - Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway
Tyll Hertsens, Warren Chi, Ethan Opolion, Andre Moore, the CanJam crew and vendors.
Last, but not least on the agenda, Tyll Hertsens presented the SHaG prize giveaway, where quite a few lucky members got to take away a large variety of prizes including Aaron (immtbiker) who was the organiser of one of the earliest large Head-Fi meets.
Finally, while the SoCal show may be over, CanJam not only will be coming to the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as it has the last few years, but to London, England in August! This will be the first ever official CanJam outside of the USA!
