Well, today was my first visit to a CanJam, and any subsequent visits will have a tough time living up to this one.
I won 64 Audio's drawing for a free IEM, so I now have the difficult—if incredibly enviable— decision of which ridiculously nice flagship-level gears I want to get. Universals and my ears don't get along so well, so Fourte, Trio, and the 18 and 12 universals are probably out—leaving the A18t and the A12t. I welcome suggestions from those who have a broader base of experience than the five or ten minutes I spent today, or even envious jibes about what a worthless lucksack I am.
Other winners:
Empire Ears Valkyrie—on the tunes I fed through them today, these did even better than the Legend X, which was also very impressive. I didn't try the Wraith, since I was trying to avoid making myself want super-expensive things. (This was a great plan, but then I foolishly listened to the Khan…)
Noble Khan—whatever you listen to immediately after the Khan will sound bad, almost guaranteed. I switched to the Django, and it might as well have been Skullcandy for the first 30 seconds or so. If you go to a Noble booth, I highly recommend asking them to postpone your exposure to the Khan. Highly-placed sources tell me that customs are coming.
FiiO FH7—my ears are a bit treble sensitive, so I will probably pass on these. The extension on the FH7 in both directions is heavy-duty. But they were still among the top handful of IEMs I auditioned.
ZMF Verite—comfy, stylish, technically capable and musical all rolled into one.
Thanks, CanJam organizers, for a great day, and thanks 64 Audio for making my hi-fi pipe dreams a reality!