Another great start to the CanJam 2024 season beginning in NYC!
Wow, vast array of vendors and representatives. This is my second CanJam and same as last year my interest is mainly desktop-type gear and headphones.
On day one I was able to handle a lot of the gear that catches my attention. Also same as before, the crowd noise does make it difficult to get critical listening but at least you get a tactile feel of the items.
Started at Bloom Audio this time to get a nice swag bag. Very nice team out of Jersey that I've ordered with before and they like to give you KitKats!
Over to ZMF and right away had to purchase a pretty Bokeh in the natural Limba wood. Doing some late night listening with it and loving this closed back.
While at ZMF was able to try a Caldera Closed on the new Cayin HA-2A. Nice sized tube amp for a desk setup and looks sweet. Caldera closed also looking great and seeming to perform well as best as I could tell but again hard to get a good sound impression with crowds. Will revisit on day 2 with some other amps.
The Verite Open was next to it paired with the HA-3A, and with a quick listen, I can appreciate why the 3A does get a lot of praise from ZMF dynamic owners.
And the new Aegis. Very nice and awesome to behold. ZMF also had some the Homage amps there with new stabilized front/rear face plates that looked nice. Will try and get a few photos of those tomorrow.
My next target was Linear Tube Audio. Super nice guys and LTA is based in Maryland. Their Velo amp is on my short list. Paired it to my DCA Noire I brought with me and tried the new Meze Liric II. Each sounded nice and the Macassar Ebony wood is gorgeous.
Mimic Audio was nearby and I checked out the Tungsten. I think it was the double-sided I tried paired to a large Black Ice Audio Fusion amp. It did seem to immerse me into the music like the singer was right there with me on a track I listened to, but again being open back, the noise is distracting. It was nice to meet Ryan there too.
Mimic also had the Austria Audio Composer HP which I read is developed from the former AKG engineers. Very nice build but the connector location seems odd on the sides. They also had the Auribus Acoustics Sierra which I had not heard of before. The Composer states it is a reference/monitor HP and I did get that monitor-like analytical impression. The Sierra was interesting, very open and spacious. It is all 3D-printed in build and super light.
First time trying the Abyss Diana. This was the MR version. The design does not appeal to me but sounded really nice and it was light.
Then over to to see the Violectric, Lake People and Fostex table. They had the V281 Limited Edition that I've been tracking since I own the V222. Hooked up a Fostex 616 and whoa. This amp packs a punch. I think the gain DIP settings may have been adjusted for a different HP beforehand since I barely turned the volume and it was too loud.
Will need to revisit again.
Stopped by the FiiO table and enjoyed the R9 all-in-one with the FT5 planar HP. Nice little setup if you were looking for a compact desktop system. It uses the Android OS like a lot of other DAPs.
Finished up at the Meze table and hooked up the Empyrean II and the 109 Pro straight to my DAP. Pretty good but would likely be better on amps. I do appreciate the Meze build quality and comfort.
Capped off the day at the seminar with Zach and Bevin and enjoyed their presentation. Looking forward to day-2!
lol In any case, it positively BLEW MY MIND that they did that bass (c54E) with a balanced armature. 
