Late posting this, but wanted to share impressions from Dallas.
As I made my way to the main level and looked for the registration table, I met
@Mumbles06 and his Wife, who were very kind and helpful.
My first stop was the Dekoni booth. I’ve been kicking around the idea of a new closedback for the office, so gave the Cobalt a serious listen. For the money, this is a solid offering from Dekoni/HIFIMAN.
Great all arounder and seemed to be fairly efficient.
Also, everyone at the Dekoni booth were amazing and personable.
Next up was creatives Ace 2 TWEs. These have a lot of potential. A sound that is hard to describe but feels like a nice step forward for a different sound from true wireless models that I’ve heard. I wish there was a nonstem version, but they did fit well.
Also the budget over ear sounds quite good for the suggested $100 market. I personally think mike and the creative team have a couple hits on their hands.
After that I made my way over to the westone booth. I first listened to the mach 60, which to my ears had a beautiful sounding midrange and treble, but didn’t quite have the bass I was looking for. I found that in the etymotic Evo. Not the same imaging and sound per se, but gave me most of what I liked from the Mach 60 with great sounding bass. Special thanks to chris for his assistance and the great recommendations.
After that I went to nobles booth to check out the prestige. I liked some of what I heard in the default tuning, but playing with the eq on my phone showed me that the prestige was capable of giving drastically different sounds based on the eq. All within the scale of it’s original tuning of course, but lots of potential if you don’t like aspects of the default tuning.
Kai and crew were very accommodating, especially on the next day when I returned.
Next was the Meze booth. I heard the empyrean 2, but the headphone I really liked was the 109 pro. I had a goal to make it back the next day but didn’t unfortunately. I’ve also forgotten the exact name of who assisted me, but he was talking with jude for quite a while, so I introduced myself when an opening came up.
After that I went to Jason from Schiit Audio’s seminar. It was fantastic. To the point, and some good questions at the end.
Next was a product I was very excited to hear, the 64 Audio Volür.
I didn’t even try the 20 filter, as the 15 was to much for me and I do like bass. This just was a bit much for me at the time. The 12s were the sweet spot for my ears, but the 10 give a great representation of what the Volür is capable of.
Great build and fit.
Thanks to Nick for his assistance at the booth.
After that, went to the audeze booth to hear the LCD5. A bit to much clamping force for me, but love the sound. The cable is quite thin but seems like it will still hold up well.
Thanks to both Richard and Tim from Audeze for great chats and their assistance.
I ended Saturday with a trip to the Sennheiser booth. I gave the IE900 an extended listen, and it was quite enjoyable, but the icing on the cake was the HE1. What an experience. It’s a remarkable sounding headphone, and a beautiful package and presentation as the Headphones and tubes reveal themselves at the push of a button.
I didn’t get everyone’s name at the Sennheiser booth, but
@ericpalonen went above and beyond.
As I was sitting at a table figuring out what I’d do next, Rob Watts came up after the day 1 festivities and introduced himself. That was pretty awesome. I saw him and someone else from Chord the next day, but unfortunately didn’t make it to try the Hugo M Scaler, something I hope to catch at the next canjam I attend.
Sunday morning I picked up where I left off Saturday, but this time checking out the IE600. Currently owning the IE300, I think the IE600 would be a better buy for me at this point. I enjoyed it’s different presentation. It has an anchoring sound in the bass that I don’t hear in the IE900 as much that was pleasing to my ears.
I also gave the 660 S2 a listen, what a solid headphone, and a return to greatness in the 600 series imo.
Next was the bloom audio booth. I hoped to hear the questyle M15 but it wasn’t available. Did hear the Utopia 2022, and was surprised how easy it was to drive.
Next I finally made my way to the Schiit booth.
The Midgard is another home run from schiit in my opinion.
Next was the Woo audio booth, where I heard the abyss Dianna MR. I don’t love the feel of the headphone, but the sound I did enjoy. Next I tried the Woo Tube mini with my HIFIMAN Deva and it had no issues driving that, I was wishing I had other headphones to try it with, but I think it is a great option for someone who needs a portable amp for travel, especially hotel room use. Not on the go, but traveling and sitting stationary I think this is a must have.
Also want to call out the Austrian Audio Composer headphone. What a great sound, and the build was very unique feeling. I really enjoyed listening to this headphone.
Next was the ZMF booth, I got a chance to talk with Zach, who introduced me to 2 products I was a big fan of.
First, the Atrium, and the Aegis amp.
I also heard the Caldera and the atrium closed. While I love the feel of the Atrium closed, I love the sound of the open by a good margin.
I didn’t want to leave this booth.
Lastly, I ended the day at the Noble Audio booth and listened to several IEMs. My favorite by far was the Kublai Khan
This might be my favorite IEM I heard at the show. I think it is actually, but it has some great company. The bass is quality and seems to extend for forever, the sounds of drums, especially Snares was amazing. Very unique. I enjoyed this so much.
It was a fantastic 2 days at canjam.
IF you can, you should attend one when it is near by, or in a city you wouldn’t mind traveling to.
I’m looking forward to canjams next year.
We love it here.. Although in noisy show conditions, I was not convinced that I liked the Cadera more than my Verite and/or Atrium.
We used to yell seminar announcements into the main hall, on occasion, but a lot of people were trying to get decent auditions in there so we stopped doing that.
