Today’s post is all about the Head-Fi Canjam London 2023 show where Berkhan and Lieven were present.
Canjam London 2023 – Intro
We weren’t able to visit last year’s London Canjam because of personal reasons, so we hadn’t been to a Canjam since 2019! While the show is still the same I have to say the organization got more professional and it was the busiest Canjam show I have ever visited. Congratulations to Jude, Ethan, Brian, Warren and the rest of the Head-Fi team for setting up such a great show. The only downside of a busy show for us is that we need to wait to listen to gear, and that’s not always easy when you’re on a tight schedule.
In this picture report we as usual will report about the things we liked most. Once again, a sheer number of brands were present at the Park Plaza Westminster Ballroom. We tried to visit every one of them and tried to listen to as much gear as possible. It’s of course not possible to listen everything, but we still have lots to share with you in this report!
The report is split up in Lieven’s and Berkhan’s parts, and on the last page you will find our Best Of Show Award. Let us know in the comments if you went to the show and what you liked most
Part 1 – Lieven
64Audio
The 64 Audio booth was always very busy and such it was difficult to find some good listening time. Luckily we’ve already reviewed most of their units, you can check out the 64Audio reviews here. From the universal series the U18s and U6t are still my favorite.
Astell&Kern
I think we have reviewed almost all of the AK units available, though we still owe you the SE300 review.
A lot of people were really happy to be able to listen to the full AK lineup. My personal favorite still is the SP3000, though I really like the CA1000T as well.
Audeze
Pretty much the same booth as during High-End Munich last May, with all of Audeze‘s headphones.
Special attention went to the MM-100 and Maxwell units. Too bad Audeze keeps delaying the review samples of these 2 excellent headphones.
Campfire Audio
Only a small booth this time round with their most popular units such as the Trifecta, Supermoon and Andromeda.
Chord Electronics
Chord brought the basics to the show and we spotted a couple of DAVE, MOJO2, HUGO2, Poly and ANNI units spread over the different tables.
We had a really nice chat with the Chord Electronics team, and they recommended us to visit the Poland Audio show next year, let’s see if we can make that happen.
DCS
I am still said I had to ship the awesome LINA stack back to the UK. A lot of people that heard it for the first time were really impressed.
Effect Audio
Effect Audio had a lot of (new) products to check out. In fact we posted an article about them just a few days ago.
It was good to finally be able to here the CODE23, Chiron, Fusion1 and Centurion cables, but also the GAEA IEM.
EarMen
To be honest I expected to see more of the EarMen stack at the show, but I think I only spotted two of them.
It’s surprising seeing the CH-AMP and Tradutto are a really nice DAC/AMP setup.
EarMicro
One of the biggest surprises of the show for me.
They impressed with an excellent TWS IEM from Klipsch with an added computer inside, allowing speech- and movement control and more. To my surprise, the sound quality was excellent as well.
A lot of customization options are available and big name artists like Snoop Dog (and others I unfortunately can’t name) are using their units. The basic model starts at $3K, though I saw $100K versions with gold and diamonds.
Empire Ears
Like EarMen, EE was represented by a distributor and they were only showing a few models like the ODIN and the Legend EVO.
Of course I was most interested about the brand new Raven. It was a nice IEM, though I found the bass presentation a bit awkward myself. I’ll need to listen to it more and in a quiet environment.
Elysian
A really nice surprise, as I never had the pleasure to listen to their IEMs before. The DIVA was nice, but it was especially the Annihilator that impressed me.
In universal version the Annihilator is quite large though. Comparable to the UE Premier size wise.
Review soon!
FiiO
I have been working with FiiO for over 10 years so I was really pleased to finally meet the FiiO team in person.
FiiO brought there enormous lineup to the show and they were even showing the new upcoming models such as the Q15 DAC/AMP, the BTR15 BT portable DAC/AMP, the BR13 desktop wireless DAC/AMP and the FT5 full sized headphone (The FT3‘s big brother)
FiiO is still collecting feedback about the FT5. Personally I found the bass not to be controlled enough.
FiiO was also showing the new mechanical keyboard with integrated DAC/AMP. I didn’t get to test it though. We already reviewed the R7 desktop rig and matching SP3 speakers, but that combo sure looks nice. I did expect it to be larger in size actually.
Final Audio
Here we saw the line-up of cable and wireless monitors (We finally are getting the ZE8000 sample for review), as well as the D8000 headphone and the upcoming new futuristic headphone.
Like in Munich this X8000 wasn’t producing any sound, too bad as I had hoped to listen to it here.
Focal
A very crowded Focal table as everyone wanted to listen to their latest models, and especially the wireless Bathys.
HEDD
I was especially looking forward to try out the last week announced HEDD 2 headphone, and it didn’t disappoint. It looks and sounds great!
HEDD has managed to keep the excellent sound, but the headphone now is a whole lot lighter and the head band – even though it looks really weird – now is much more comfortable.
Hifiman
Maybe together with FiiO the biggest and most busiest of all exhibitors.
Hifiman had all of their latest new units at the show, think Ananda Nano, Arya Stealth, Audivina, EF400, EF600, Svanar wireless and more. It was also nice to discover the new Hifiman & Goldenwave desktop unit.
Letshuoer
We recently featured the Letshuoer S12Pro, and we will be reviewing the new Dz4 very soon. I was glad I managed to listen to it, as it offers a lot of sound for under $100 USD.
Meze Audio
A lot of people had really good things to say about the closed back Liric, and I fully agree.
Together with the ELITE which I prefer over the Empyrean, it are my favorite Meze headphones. I can also share there might be new Meze gear soon-ish.
QDC
It’s a brand I love, but they unfortunately can’t seem to build customs for my ears. Which is quite surprising seeing I have a large number of CIEMs. Anyway, QDC brought all their classics, and more!
I love their customization options, they’re also one of the best CIEM brands in this regard if you ask me.
Questyle
After the Munich show, Questyle now was in London. Only this time they could really show the NHB12 Apple certified IEM which is launching via a Kickstarter campaign. We reviewed it for you right here.
I also got to listen to their newest portable DAC/AMP, even though the sound tuning wasn’t final yet. Looks great though and worked perfectly with my Samsung Z fold 4.
RAAL
I am a big fan of the SR-1b and CA-1. I hope RAAL will be introducing new headphones soon.
We will however be reviewing the SAEQ headphone amplifier you often see these being demoed with.
Sennheiser
It’s good to see Sennheiser under Sonova back at the shows. We spotted a lot of HD 800 S, and even the 820 closed back headphone!
Of course, you could also book some time with their reference HE-1 system.
Soundz
Glad I got to listen to the Wave and Avant models from the Greek Soundz. Especially the Avant was impressive.
It’s always nice discovering new European brands, and their team was incredibly kind. I will try to get them on Headfonia soon!
Ultimate Ears
One of my favorite classic CIEM brands and they’re back now with the Premier IEM, holding no less than 21 drivers.
It is huge as you can see in the pictures, perhaps even larger in size than the Elysian Annihilator.
That said, it did sound really nice.
Vision Ears
Marcel was there showing the full line-up but the first one we listened to of course was the new VE10 universal IEM.
How much we liked it? Check the last page of this article.
Yamaha
I got to listen to the YH-5000SE for the second time, but it somehow still hasn’t convinced me in combination with their own DAC/AMP.
I think it’s the bass presentation in combination with the fullness from top to bottom. I hope I will get to listen to it on some different systems, and then we’ll know for sure.
ZMF
We haven’t covered ZMF in a very long time, but I am happy to announce you will be seeing much more from them on Headfonia soon.
Their private room at the show was super impressive, I couldn’t believe what they brought over from the States.
I am in love with the Caldera and the Closed Atrium is so fun to listen to. Soon on Headfonia!
I also look forward to the amplifier collaboration with JDS that was announced last week. I got to spend a few minutes with it at the show, and the combo was spot on.
Picture Dump
As usual this is where you find all the rest of the pics of the gear that caught our eye.
Click here to go to the next page and discover Berkhan’s coverage.
