Visitors to CanJam Europe on Sept. 24th and 25th have picked their favourite products in six categories of the Best of Show Award. They had to choose between over 1,000 headphones, audio players, amps and accessories that more than 100 brands exhibited at the headphone show at the Congress Centrum West in Essen, Germany.

A surprise in the home headphone category: The Utopia headphone from French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal tied Sennheiser’s new Orpheus HE1, the world’s most expensive headphone. But the Orpheus clearly dominated the category “Best of Show overall”. A big surprise in the category “Best portable headphone”, where the triple-driver hybrid E1001 by US newcomer 1More defeated German company InEar’s world premiere ProPhile 8. Violectric’s HPA V200 won “Best headphone amp”, Meier Audio’s Corda Classic, SPL’s Phonitor 2 and Sennheiser Orpheus amp tied for second. Astell&Kern’s entry-level AK70 beat its high-end sibling AK380 for best source of CanJam Europe 2016, ROOM’s headphone stands FS-Pro were voted best accessories.

Coplete list of winners:

Headphones portable:
1. 1MORE Triple-Driver In-Ear headphone E1001
2. InEar ProPhile-8
3. Shure KSE1500

Headphones home:
1. Sennheiser HE1 (Orpheus) and Focal Utopia
3. Sennheiser HD 800 S

Amplifiers:

1. Violectric HPA V200
2. (3x) Meier Audio Corda Classic and SPL Phonitor 2 and Sennheiser HE1 (Orpheus)

Sources (DAPs and DACs):
1. Astell&Kern AK70
2. Astell&Kern AK380
3. Onkyo DP-X1

Accessories:
1. ROOM’s FS-Pro (VC Serie)
2. Labkable Kopfhörerkabel
3. AudioQuest JitterBug

Best product of show overall:
1. Sennheiser HE1 (Orpheus)
2. Focal Utopia
3. Meze 99 Classics and Shure KSE1500

Approximately 1,000 visitors tried out gear from more than 110 brands at the show’s nearly 80 show tables. Visitors came from all over Europe and beyond: Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as Benelux countries and Scandinavia, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia, Italy, Spain, France and the UK. Visitors from Hongkong, China and Japan made CanJam Europe a truly global event.
In addition to world and European premières, the community area was one of the highlights of CanJam Europe 2016. Headphone enthusiasts from all over the world met to talk shop and show off modded and DIY gear.
Preparations for CanJam Europe 2017 are already under way, the first exhibitors have already signed up for the event.