Great Britain has had a miserable summer this year, especially up here in Scotland where it’s been consistently rainy and cold. CanJam London 2024 brought some excitement to these rainy shores in the form of a lot of headphones, earphones and other equipment. There were lots of familiar faces, as well as some new ones, at the show. The general sensation was that there was much new, but nothing overly exciting or revolutionary – save for a couple of exceptions. Here’s my full report!
As always with show reports- take my considerations on sound with a healthy amount of salt – judging how earphones and headphones sound in a crowded environment is not easy, to put it lightly!
Astell&Kern
Astell&Kern’s UK distributor, HEADistribution, had the full line-up on display. This included the latest two devices, the SP3000T as well as the new Activo P1. The SP3000T was quite spectacular with its tubes glowing through the back of the case, and there was also a demonstrative unit with a transparent back which showed the full circuitry – it is not a commercial product, but it is so cool I think it should actually be!
Creative
Creative is a brand that does not need introducing, but this was the first time they were at CanJam. They had all of their latest models on display, including the Aurvana Ace 2. They also had the new Zen Air SXFi: these are TWS IEMs which come with built-in SXFi effects – which I’ve already explored and covered when I reviewed the SXFi Amp. The Air SXFi feature boosted bass, with a very boomy sound. SXFi actually does make a difference and makes soundstage a lot larger, in both depth and width. I was given a unit, so stay tuned for a full review in the coming weeks.
FATFreq
FATFreq had some of the most ridiculous (in a good way) earphones at the show. The company’s earphones are characterised by a filter on the faceplate, which you can remove and replace with a different one to alter the sound signature. I tried their new $4,000 flagship, called Gran Maestro Anniversary, which was huge and almost bulky. I could definitely feel the earpieces in my ears, to the point they were uncomfortable. On top of the filters, the earphones also featured a switch which would make bass a lot more prominent, whereas disabling it brings mids a lot more forward making the sound more balanced. Bass is impressively deep, on top of being very powerful when the switch is enabled. FATFreq also had the Deuce (last picture: the red and black IEM), which is bass-focused and offers a lot of depth and punch in that regard, with overall good details; I could notice that the mids were a bit scooped out, however.
Ferrum
I had a very long chat with Maksymilian from Ferrum Audio, who explained to me the design philosophy behind the company’s stack. This is a high-end stack made of three devices: Hypsos, which is a power supply; Wandla, a DAC; Oor, a headphone amplifier. Hypsos provides power to one device in the stack and it can be made to power two devices when using an adapter (though a version with dual outputs is now available as well); the interesting thing is that this is not a passive PSU, but rather an active one which communicates with the device it powers in order to deliver the exact voltage needed when it is needed, thereby ensuring the cleanest possible audio. Wandla offers all the features you normally expect from a DAC, plus some more: on top of being a digital to analogue converter, it can also act as a preamplifier; add to this the fact that the firmware gives you incredibly flexible settings to tune the sound however you’d like, including a tube emulation setting and a “spatial enhancement” mode in the GoldenSound edition. Oor is a headphone amplifier that follows a similar design philosophy as the other products, which means it tries to keep things as simple as possible while also innovating; it offers single-ended and balanced input and output, which includes line output as you can use the amp as a preamplifier. While it was hard to tell how this system sounded in the crowded showfloor, the Wandla’s tube emulation had a clear effect, just like the spatial enhancement – which worked really well in making the soundstage not just wider, but also deeper.
FiiO
One thing I did not foresee was seeing new portable cassette and CD players in 2024. I thought these were relics from my childhood and early adolescence – back when I was 12 having a portable CD player meant being overly cool, but twenty years later? I thought that was a thing of the past! And yet, FiiO‘s new CP13 and DM13 bring back those things of the past with a modern twist: both feature USB-C ports for charging, which is definitely not something we had back in the day, as well as powerful output. The DM13 CD player also features a desktop mode which allows you to exclude the battery so it won’t charge while the device is plugged in, thereby prolonging its life.
FiiO also had the new FT1 closed-back headphones which they were still finalising and gathering feedback on. They are going to be affordable, at £139, but despite this they feature impressive bass (in both depth and quality) thanks to the 60 mm dynamic driver with a nanofiber-composite diaphragm. They had a heavily V-shaped signature, with a sound that was a bit “boxy”, but overall enjoyable due to its warmth.
They also had the K11 R2R desktop DAC and headphone amplifier, as well as the new flagship model, the impressive K19 – which has more inputs and outputs than you’ll probably ever need!
HiFiMAN
HiFiMAN had the already-mythical Susvara Unveiled. An evolution over the previous Susvara, the Unveiled remove the grille that normally guards the driver and prevents anything to come into contact with (and therefore damage) it. The result of this, along with further refinements to the driver, is an even more natural response than that of the original Susvara. I normally like HiFiMAN’s tuning approach and with the Unveiled they simply knocked it out of the park – something which was evident even in a loud and crowded environment like the CanJam. You can see the new headphones worn by the colleague reviewer, Oscar Stewart, who very kindly lent himself to the photo shoot!
HiFonix
HiFonix had a whole lot of things on display, both on the main show floor and in a separate room (where they had the crème de la crème, including the HiFiMAN Shangri-La). I took some time to listen to their Unique Melody offering. It included the Mest MKIII, the Mason FS Nuit Etoilée, and the MEST MKII. The Mest MKIII was very fun, punchy and quick; I especially liked treble, because it sounded fun without being too much in your face, as well as the large soundstage. The Mason FS Nuit Etoilée (“starry night” in French) is the company’s flagship, coming in at about £6,500 and sporting 13 drivers per side – which make the earpieces quite large. There’s more detail, a larger soundstage, a more reserved treble that leads to a more neutral sound signature. Bass depth is impressive, just like speed and physicality, and there’s also fantastic isolation – I didn’t have to push the volume up to counter the noise of the show. The Mest MKII were the most “fun” of the three, with a very bright V-shaped presentation.
Kaldas
Kaldas was the real surprise of the show. An Indian manufacturer, they specialise in electrostatic headphones and came up with the world’s first electrostatic closed-back, the Inox. They explained to me that the point of the closed-back earcups is not so much to isolate you from the surroundings, but to prevent the sound leakage that normally occurs with open-back headphones. The result is headphones which exhibit insane imaging and soundstage for closed-backs – if I didn’t know they were, I would have thought they were open! Bass is a bit reserved, while upper mids and treble are a bit aggressive; detail, like one would expect from electrostatic headphones, was fantastic.
Letshuoer
Letshuoer had a few new products since last year’s show. The first one I tried was the new Cadenza 4, an entry-level model which shows an overall very good balance, with convincing mids and powerful but not overdone bass. They were also very comfortable. The S08 are planar, just like the S12, but have very small shells that I found super comfortable. I found bass to be quite light, with prominent treble; they were very fast and nimble, hitting with quite a punch. Last were the new S15, which are again planar and which I found very balanced. In my notes I wrote that bass was punchy and treble was sizzling – so not a neutral presentation, but not an overwhelming V shape either.
John kindly gave me an S15 to review, so that’s another review to look out for!
Linsoul
Linsoul was present at the show with a variety of earphones and headphones. The highlight was a collection of unreleased (and unnamed) Kiwi Ears models, which the company was collecting feedback on. There were also the Origin A100, which offer an astounding 8 drivers per channel: one dynamic driver, 4 balanced armatures, 2 electrostatic and one planar driver. Overall I found them decently balanced, with powerful bass, a wide soundstage and very good imaging.
Meze
Meze had their full line-up available, though the one item that really got my attention was the Alba, their latest IEMs. I was thoroughly blown up by these tiny, affordable earbuds, as they offered a powerful yet clear and clean presentation, with a focus on the midrange. What really impressed me was the soundstage presentation, which was super wide and felt really natural in how the instruments were placed. Transients sounded really fast, too. My notes say “impressive” among the comments – and when people asked me if I heard anything good at the fair, the Alba were my choice. I can’t wait to try them out more in-depth!
Noble
Noble had their first over-ear wireless headphones, the Apollo, which really impressed me with their incredible passive isolation. I put them on and most sounds from the people around me disappeared – and that was before even turning on the ANC, which further reduced the background. The Apollo are notable due to the fact that they use a 40 mm dynamic driver, plus a 14 mm planar driver as a tweeter. The result is a U-shaped response which is balanced really well.
Soundz
Greek manufacturer Soundz came back after last year’s successful debut at CanJam. There were no new products, except for a luxury version of the Flame: the faceplate comes with a tiger head made of pure gold and featuring two rubies for eyes, with a black background that really makes the colours pop out. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but certainly quite the looker!
Warwick Acoustics
Warwick Acoustics was back to CanJam London for the first time after 2019. They had their latest headphones, the Bravura, as well as the top-of-the-line Aperio. Since I had already reviewed the Aperio, I only listened to the Bravura and found them super comfortable. As usual with electrostatic headphones I found them extremely detailed. They had a wide soundstage, though not super deep, with great layering and instrument separation. The fantastic people at Warwick gave me a unit at the show to bring back home and review – and you can already read the Warwick Acoustics Bravura review here! They also had a driver assembly to show how incredibly thin and light the driver is, and as you can see it really is super-thin!
As usual, it was great to meet old friends and to make new ones at CanJam London 2024. It was also great to try the headphones, earphones and all the other equipment on display. While this year there wasn’t any eye-popping – or, better, ear-popping! – launch, there surely were many interesting products that showed the very best of the head-fi world.
