JOIN HIFI PIG’S OSCAR FOR THE SECOND HALF OF HIS CANJAM LONDON 2024 REPORT

HiFi PiG’s Oscar is our resident Headfi expert, join him for part 2 of his CanJam London 2024 Report.

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So you will probably have read the first half of Oscar’s CanJam London 2024 Report…if not click here to read Part 1.

FOCAL / NAIM

Kicking off part two we have Focal/Naim, they had their Uniti Atom Headphone edition as the source and a full complement of Focal headphones. From Bathys to Utoipia, Celestee to Clear MG, along with the new Hadenys and Azurys – both of which I listened to last month at the North West Audio Show. Azurys is a closed back model with a smooth and refined sound, the Hadenys having a cleaner and more open sound – both fit into a more affordable price bracket.

FIIO

Fiio had their newly released portable CD player on display along with a few colours of their cassette player too. Lots of dongles, DAPs, IEMs, headphones, DACs, Amps, streamers, and more were on display for people to try out.

I decided to try a few of the new products starting with the yet to be released FT1 – a closed back over-ear that had a smooth and full sound, good separation for a closed back headphone and excellent comfort. These are going to retail for £139.99 and look to be rather good for the price, with wooden earcups and an easy-going sound signature.

They also had their Jade Audio JT1 full-size headphones on demo too, these are only £69.99 and feature wooden earcups. These are tuned quite differently though and have a more balanced sound that still retains good punch and articulation. The low price of these is great for those just starting out on their headphone journey, these are seriously good value.

The S11 / K11 stack is neat, a small footprint streamer/DAC/Amp setup that will easily drive most headphones. They also had the new K11 R2R on demo, this came across as powerful, smooth, and natural when paired with their FT5 planar magnetic headphones (previously reviewed here).

FATFREQ

FatFREQ are well known in the headphone world however have never really been on my radar, they offer up a huge range of IEMs from reference sounding to bass-heavy sound signatures.

They have a new model coming which is a collaboration with HBB called Deuce, this uses dual dynamic drivers and has huge punchy bass, an energetic and engaging yet bass heavy sound signature that is all about fun. There was effortless extension on both ends and whilst the midrange and treble were behind in quantity, the quality was still great – these are a bass-head tuning.

Next up I got to try their Grand Maestro model with different filters, they also have a switch on the housing that brings the midrange a bit more forward. With the bassier filters they had a thick and warm sound with a clear midrange and well extended yet inoffensive treble. These had good detail retrieval and resolution throughout even with their warm sound signature. I did get to try two other filters which bring out a little bit more detail and tone down the bass a little, no matter the filter though – these always came across as quite fun and slightly V-shaped.

NOBLE AUDIO

Noble were back this year with a couple of new models, first up is their Apollo, a Bluetooth full-size headphone designed for out and about use featuring a dynamic driver alongside a 14mm planar driver. If you know Noble, you’ll know this as a “very Noble tuning”, this includes big bombastic and fun bass, crisp and extended treble without sounding too hot and a good midrage. They almost take me back to the days of the Noble Sage IEM – but in full size form, a hugely enjoyable headphone if you like that kind of thing. Using them in wired mode does tone down the bass a little, but they are always going to be a fun headphone.

Next up I tried their new Onyx, which features 1 DD, 4 BAs, 2 ESTs and 1 bone conductor per side, these had excellent extension on both ends from rumbly sub-bass up to sparkly highs. Great articulation, control, and separation – a very enjoyable, slightly u-shaped sound with that signature Noble bite.

They also had the Triumph TWS which are probably the most detailed true-wireless earphones I have heard, solid and big bass, detailed mids and crisp treble which I did find to be a little too much at times (in stock form). They do however, come with an app which will allow you to tune them to your liking.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

Chord had an array of models on demo including the Hugo 2, Hugo TT2, Hugo MScaler, Anni, Mojo 2, Qutest, Dave and their pro-audio Alto headphone amp. The Alto seems popular with the headphone crowd and it would be good to see this model sold as one of their regular models rather than specifically aimed at the pro-audio market. They had a good range of headphones to test their kit with including headphones from Meze, Audeze and ZMF.

While at CanJam, Oscar had chance to sit down and chat to Chord’s Rob Watts Talks about the new, and yet to be released, Chord Electronics Quartet M Scaler, watch the video below.

CAMPFIRE AUDIO

Campfire really don’t need any introductions, I’ve loved some models and not enjoyed others, at that is one of the beautiful things about this audio world of ours – there is something for everyone. Campfire also caters to most under one roof, from neutral to bass head to slightly more analytical sounds, they do have models for a lot of different tastes.

I sat down with their Fathom model for a little while, this is almost a spiritual successor to the classic original Andromeda, the Fathom houses 6 BA drivers and has a clean and open sound whilst retaining good punch and extension. This is an energetic and sparkly IEM with fantastic detail, this is a tuning I personally enjoy a lot.

Next up I tried the Bonneville which has been receiving quite a bit of praise recently, I can see why. It’s a really fun all-rounder, a good everyday earphone with enough body to be fun yet not bloated, enough treble to not sound dull and a midrange that’s present enough to enjoy vocal centric music. A fun and versatile sound for everyday listening.

REMORA

I met Gary from Remora at Munich (you can read Oscar’s High End Munich 2024 Headfi report here) and this tech has garnered quite a bit of interest since then. Essentially what Remora are doing is creating a wireless module for lossless streaming of audio, this can be paired with their THX AAA headphone amp module to drive headphones directly in a small form factor. The module runs on a custom OS based on an open-source architecture for stability, it currently has enough bandwidth to pass through 24/96 audio uncompressed with unnoticeable 5ms latency and it features and ESS DAC chip inside.

One of the big points with this system is flexibility and plugins, you can load a ton of different plugins onto it to create your own profiles for spatial audio, EQ, 3D sounds and custom listening profiles for whatever use you need (you can have multiple profiles, for different genres/movies/gaming etc…)

Future applications for this can be wide ranging from standalone streamers, to fitting it into existing kit, it will be interesting to see where this goes from here. For now, I had a listen to the Remora with a pair of Audeze LCD-X, this was using their THX AAA headphone amp hooked up to the streaming module, it did a really good job at driving these headphones with a neutral and punchy sound without any drawback you get with Bluetooth (compression).

KALDAS / ALTIAT

Kaldas and Altiat are both part of the same company, hailing from India they are making electrostatic headphones along with a new dynamic model (from Altiat) called the CAL-1H.

First up though was the Kaldas Research Inox – this is a model still in development but, it’s a closed back electrostatic which makes it very interesting. This headphone had your usually electrostatic speed and clarity whilst sounding spacious and well separated, considering it’s a closed headphone this was really impressive. Kaldas focus more on the stereo imaging rather than a huge soundstage, suffice to say the imaging was very convincing. These did have a slightly mid-centric sound but overall, they sounded very promising.

I then tried the Altiat CAL-1H which is a more budget oriented dynamic driver model, these had good weight to the bass without sounding overblown, an articulate and engaging sound with crisp treble. My only gripe with these was a slight oddity in the midrange, making male vocals sound a little thin and distant, aside from this they were quite a smooth and easy listening headphone.

VIRTUOSO

Virtuoso is a company who have an app for PC/MAC that allows you to use DSP for binaural sound, you can configure the emulated room in terms of size as well as speaker setup for an out of head experience. It seemed very flexible and from the short demo I had the sound gained convincing width, height and depth, something I think would make watching movies, and gaming, on standard headphones a lot more enjoyable.  This kind of DSP is becoming interesting in the audio space, especially with the emergence of Atmos recordings for audio.

TECHNICS

Not a brand I was expecting to see at CanJam but, it was lovely to see Kevin Walker manning the stand. Technics headphones and earphones fit squarely into the consumer market, yet every audiophile needs a backup headphone or something to throw on whilst walking the dog. This is where headphones from Technics come into play, I have a listen to the A800 full size model and they were simply fun to listen to. When you listen to a pair of headphones like this, it’s all about enjoyment rather than picking the recording apart and, the ANC was very effective at dulling the room noise.

So, whilst these may not be of the usual sound quality you would expect at a show like this, Technics are out there making some fun headphones should you wish to listen to something a little different. I really enjoyed my time at this table, they also had their lovely SACD player/streamer on show which attracted quite a lot of interest, along with some other desktop components.

IFI AUDIO

iFi Audio are a brand I am very familiar with, and who are well known in the headphone world, had a range of products on demo. From the hip-DAC 3, GO Bar Kensei, Go Pod, iDSD Diablo 2, ZEN DAC 3 / ZEN Can 3 and ZEN Blue 3 stack and the NEO iDSD 2.

I’ve reviewed the iFi NEO iDSD 2 which is a fantastic DAC/headphone amp and I currently have the ZEN DAC 3 in my setup for a future review. The table was very busy at the show, and it was hard to get a listen to anything, luckily, I’ve tested most products they had at other shows as well as at home.

SPIRIT TORINO

Spirit Torino had their Twin Pulse IEMs which debuted last year at CanJam London, along with their Centauri planar headphones and the Valkyria full-size headphones. These headphones all have quite unique sound signatures and you must listen to them to decide whether they will be suited to your preferences. I like the hand-crafted nature of the headphones and they are beautiful pieces of engineering with quite energetic sound signatures.

ASTELL & KERN

High end DAPs? Check. High end IEMs? Check. Budget DAP? – well now they have one, bringing back the Activo brand, the new P1 portable music player made its debut in the UK at CanJam.

This new model features a 20hr battery life, Bluetooth, 3.5 and 4.4mm outputs, DAR (upsampling tech), Crossfeed and much more. Running an octa-core processor means the interface is snappy and responsive, the screen was bright and clear and the little P1 was driving a pair of Audeze LCD planars with ease – all this for only £399. I can see this doing quite well, expect a full review at some point in the future.

Elsewhere they had their line-up of dongles, IEMs and higher end DAPs including the SP3000t which has a pair of valves integrated into it – for valve sound on the go.

HEADAMP / MYTEK

At this table you could find the Stax SR-X9000 paired with a beautiful green Blue Hawaii SE electrostatic energiser/amp – there was a Mytek Manhattan Bridge DAC. Now, I have said before that I’m not a huge fan of electrostats but this system might change my mind, it may have only been a brief listen but this setup had proper impact and body, a more natural and engaging tonality that was believable. I was using Polyphia – Playing God as one of my test tracks at the show and this system was so good at delivering the deep bass when it hits, whilst retaining pin sharp detail and focus on the intricate guitar work. This was one of the stand-out full-size setups for me over the weekend.

Elsewhere on the table was an assortment of other Mytek products including the Brooklyn Bridge II, Liberty DAC II and Liberty THX AAA HPA.

PENTACONN

Pentaconn are probably best known for first bringing the 4.4mm balanced connector to market, they also make cables and IEMs. They had their Scyne a01 model on demo with both Brass and Aluminium type tips. The eartips have a metal chamber in the nozzle which changes the tonality slightly, the brass tips being slightly brighter and more detailed whilst the aluminium tips provide a little bit more body. These IEMs were super snappy and detailed, with excellent transient response and a clean sound signature that leaned towards neutral/bright.

They also had a new prototype that is yet to be named, this model is almost the opposite of what the Scyne a01 is, it is a warm and smooth IEM with bigger bass, toned down treble and a warm and inviting sound. Vocals are still rendered with ease and liquidity whilst the whole sound had a little more groove to it.

AMOENUS

The last table downstairs belonged to Amoenus, another maker of a DSP programme with carefully crafted crossfeed settings to make headphones sound more natural and like a speaker. This DSP did a good job at crossfeeding the channels for a more natural and less exaggerated L/R split that you tend to get with headphones, and the great thing about this DSP is that it doesn’t alter the sound signature of your headphones, you don’t lose the core sound signature and instead it just alters the presentation.

Now we head upstairs to the three big rooms along with the seminar room, sadly due to the time it takes to cover the show I didn’t get to sit in on any seminars however, here are a couple of pics of two of them.

DCS

DCS usually have an impressive room at CanJam and this year was no exception, they had a few setups which were busy both days, these included a few Lina stacks, Bartok Apex into Lina headphone amp – they had a huge array of headphones including the HiFiMAN Susvara, Abyss AB-1266 PHI TC, Audeze LCD-5 and more.

HIFONIX STATEMENT

This year Aseem teamed up with Ozan (from High End by Oz) to deliver some true statement systems – and they delivered. First up was the Susvara Unveiled paired with the Viva Egoista 845 amp, this setup delivers electrostatic speed with planar goodness and body, a huge soundstage and effortless delivery.

Then we had the Viva Egoista 2A3 with the original Susvara along with a pair of Focal Utopias nearby.

The next one I listened to was the Viva Egoista STX which is compatible with electrostatic headphones, I listened to the Stax SR-X9000 and this setup was a little less full compared to the previous pairing with the Blue Hawaii SE but, did have slightly better technicalities and air. I also got to listen to the HiFiMAN Shagri-la Snr on this amp, and it did an excellent job at driving those with plenty of body and speed.

The real star of the show though was the main setup in the room, a full DCS Vivaldi setup including the DAC and Upsampler, Viva Belva (yet to be released) headphone amp (separate PSU and amp modules that weight 75kg each!) which feature a solid copper chassis internally.  This was paired with the RAAL 1995 Immanis headphones mostly (although I did sneak a listen with the Shangri-La Snr too). Cabling was Nordost Valhalla series, and they were also using a QBase mains conditioner. This was a serious setup for headphone listening, it’s possibly the best system I have had the pleasure of listening to as well however, it is out of reach for most of us mere mortals. Let me say that the sound was incredibly natural and balanced, it was so airy and effortless yet retained good body and tonality throughout. This is a setup that, no matter how complex the mix gets, can handle it, the ribbon drivers do a fantastic job of offering up a ton of detail whilst backing it up with punch and body – what a system.

ZMF HEADPHONES

Lastly, we come to the ZMF room and what a feast for both the eyes and ears, ZMF make some very pretty headphones yet they are backed up with fantastic sound quality too. Starting off with the Caldera closed, these had deep and controlled bass with natural vocals and smooth treble, an easy headphone to listen to and not your conventional planar tuning. These come across as quite energetic and dynamic whilst retaining good control across the board.

The Caldera open on the other hand is a little more even handed with slightly more prominent treble and a little less bass. They still had that dynamic and punchy presentation with great bass for an open back headphone.

They had a prototype of the Bokeh open on hand, this model uses a dynamic driver yet had a more neutral and balanced presentation than the Caldera, something that is consistent across most ZMF models is their dynamic bass response, no matter the driver technology in use. These were no slouch down low; it was just the overall presentation came across as more balanced in comparison to the Caldera.

I then got to listen to the Atrium out of the new Aegis amp and this was a fantastic pairing, the Aegis not being an overly warm or “tubey” valve amp, contributing to these sounding very snappy and detailed sound with enough warmth and kick down low to prevent them from sounding too boring.

That’s a wrap on this year’s CanJam London – a huge thank you to the organisers, exhibitors and visitors who make this such a great show to attend.

Don’t forget to read our CanJam London 2024 Part 1 coverage here.

Oscar Stewart

Additional photography by Kelly Bowden