Many thanks to the sponsors, vendors, volunteers, and fellow hi-fiers who made my first CanJam an enjoyable success.
Couple observations:
1) the lack of attitude was so refreshing. everyone just seemed so chill which was really nice for me as a newbie. i got that vibe from the forum, but it was nice to experience it firsthand.
2) up-close and hands-on. maybe this should have been obvious in hindsight since i constantly read the "trust your ears" refrain in the threads, but it was really cool to see everyone just going from table to table to plug in and have a listen and form their own opinions.
3) not enough time! i swung by on Saturday afternoon and--because my daughter was kind enough to turn over part of her college touring weekend to CanJam--wanted to keep my time short, but i could have totally lost myself just circling the hall for hours, marveling at all the kit.
Special shout out to AJ at the JH Audio table. He was kind enough to answer numerous inane questions, sat patiently while my daughter subjected me to a blind test of various JH IEMs, and went the extra mile to do my impressions (yes, my daughter has all the photographic evidence).
And...as of this morning, i've taken one more step over the slippery slope by ordering a pair of custom JH 13v2s.
Thanks to all the Head-Fiers for the advice thus far...will report back once i have gear in hand.