CanJAM NYC 2022

I will be attending the show hosted by the Marriott Marquis Times Square hotel over February 26th and 27th weekend. I’ll be posting coverage of all the latest and greatest headphone and headphone-related gear on the Secrets Facebook and Instagram feeds over the weekend. And, like we did with the Florida show, we will port all that coverage over to the main Secrets website next week. So spend some time checking in on social media this weekend to get updates on what audio goodness I find at the show. Then come back next week to see the whole shooting-match collected right here, all in one spot! We hope you enjoy!

Carlo Lo Raso
Co-Editor-In-Chief

Welcome to the Jungle. The headphone Jungle!

On the main show floor, HiFiMAN was demonstrating their new fully balanced headphone DAC/Amp the EF400, the company’s first new desktop amp design in roughly 10 years. The DAC section is based off the HiFIMAN’s Himalaya resistor ladder architecture. The amplifier section is Class-AB with a claimed output of up to 4.4 watts per channel. The back features both balanced and unbalanced outputs a regular USB and a USB-C input. The front panel has standard 1/4” single-ended phono plug, 3.5mm single-ended, Pentacon balanced, and 4-pin XLR balanced headphone jacks. A selection knob allows you to select High or Low gain in either Oversampling or Non-Oversampling mode. Not a bad piece of kit for $599.00. I tried the EF400 with both the HE400s and the HiFiMAN Arya headphones and the sound was very good with plenty of headroom left to spare.

Frankfurt Germany based company INEAR was showing their ProPhile 8 (PP8) In Ear Monitors. The interesting thing about these matte black IEMs was that they each had two little dip switches on their inner sides. One switch activated a 2dB treble boost while the other added a 3dB bass boost, if desired. The IEMs are a 4-way design with 8-drivers per side. Out of the box the sound does come across as neutral, but not so much as to sound sterile. Using the included tool to adjust the switches I found the additional 3dB of active bass boost to be pleasing for my tastes. The PP8 are available in either universal or custom fit. Personally, I found the Universal fit to seal very well with my ears after just a little fiddling. The universal fit version priced at $1,500 US while the Custom fit version varies between $2,000 – $3,000 depending on choosing available laser engraving or 24K Gold accenting.

Paid a visit to the Dan Clark Audio room and got to meet the man, Dan Clark himself. The company has come a long way from when it started as the MrSpeakers brand and that can no more clearly be seen in their latest headphone, the Stealth. This closed back headphone is claimed to most closely follow the HARMAN preference curve, even more so than the Aeon 2 Noire model which is a personal favorite. Having a chance to compare the two models here side-by-side, I found the Stealth to have everything I loved about the Aeon 2 Noire but just more of it. The sense of openness and space was noticeably higher with the Stealth along with a modest increase in transparency. Overall tonal balance was similar but almost “cleaner” if you will, with the Stealth. Dan Clark says one of the keys to this increased sense of spaciousness is the patented AMTS filter system inside the earcup. Price is $4,000 and they look, feel and sound every bit of it.

Made with pride, completely in San Diego.

Popped in on the Chord Electronics table where I got to spend a little time with the new little Chord Mojo2 portable headphone DAC/Amp. Sporting it’s trademark lighted colored indicator and control “nublets”, this little pocket of power has 5 type of digital inputs (including USB-C) and two 3.5mm headphone jacks. It also has a new multi-band digital EQ feature along crossfeed settings to simulate a more spacious soundstage. Chord also claims that the battery has been improved to allow for over 8 hours of use. The build quality of the Mojo 2 feels solid and substantial (it’s housing is anodized aluminum) and I found very much to like about it’s sound quality when listening through a pair of Audeze LCD-X headphones. The Mojo 2 is completely compatible with the Chord Poly streamer/server attachment. Available in any color you want as long as its black! $725.00 US.

While at Chord I got to meet and chat with Rob Watts, Chord’s digital design guru. A super nice and down-to earth guy who gave me what must have been a stripped-down university dissertation on digital and analog chip theory and FPGAs. BTW, this man must have made FPGA, the four sexiest letters to audiophile DAC fanatics everywhere, but I digress. I must have grasped about 30% of his explanations, my electronics understanding being not far past high school level, but what isn’t hard to understand is the work, development, and dedication that goes in to what he does with the digital guts of Chord products. He obviously loves what he does and that’s easy to see. Pictured here with the all-seeing DAVE DAC. Thanks for the time Rob!

HiFiMAN’s Adam Sohmer walks us through the company’s new products that are premiering at CanJAM NYC 2022.

I stopped in on the fine folks at Meze Audio and had a chance to check out both the Liric ($2,000) and the Elite ($4,000) headphones that Meze launched late last year. The Liric is a closed-back design that uses a scaled down Isodynamic Planar driver made by Rinaro Isodynamics. The Elite is an open-back model with a newly developed and larger Isodynamic planar driver by Rinaro. I don’t run into Meze headphones that often so it was a treat to try them out. Build quality is nigh on faultless with the Liric having an unusual black magnesium frame and ear-cups with a textured finish similar to a high-end SLR camera. The Elite has elaborate all aluminum frame with a carbon fiber headband bracket. Both are supremely light and comfortable. Listening to both, I was hard-pressed to pick a favorite, they sounded so good.

Meze was also showing a prototype headphone that, for the moment, was called the 101 Pro. It is a new semi-open back design with dynamic drivers that is intended to slot in above the existing 99 series with a suggested price of $600-$700 dollars. The design is still under development but what I heard was very promising. Their styling is quite striking and the sound is open and pleasing, leaning more towards the Liric as opposed to the 99s. Availability is targeted for summer.

The dCS room had a few of their Bartok DAC with headphone amplifier units set up for sampling. This externally very minimalist looking component is much more that a “mere” DAC or headamp, and for an asking price of $18.5K it better be. It is a full on streamer and endpoint, ready to work with Roon, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, AirPlay, etc. It incorporates the dCS Ring DAC architecture with 6 PCM and 4 DSD filters to choose from. It will upsample to DXD or DSD if you choose. It has multiple SPDIF digital inputs, 2 AES digital, 2 USB input, Ethernet and word clock inputs. On the headphone side of things it has both single-ended and balanced headphone jacks along with 4 adjustable gain settings.

Listening to the Bartok with a pair of Meze Empyrean headphones was a delight. Pure musical joy. Again, not something for everyone, but if you want the best, and can afford it, then add this to your audition list!

Final Audio was featuring their UX3000 wireless ANC headphones ($179), the ZE3000 True Wireless Earbuds ($179), and their flagship D8000 Pro planar headphones ($4,300) at the show. I did not get a chance to listen to the ZE3000 but they featured a 6mm low-distortion dynamic driver in each earbud. They use the Bluetooth 5.2 spec and work with SBC, AAC, aptX, and apt Adaptive Bluetooth codecs. The ZE3000 will last 7 hours on a charge and can be charged by the case 5 times before the case battery needs charging. They are available in a textured black or white finish and have a IPX4 water resistance rating.

The UX3000 were interesting because while they were light and felt like a $180 pair of headphones, they sounded a good deal better than that to me. I’m used to most wireless ANC headphones having too much bass out of the box and needing EQ to tone it down somewhat. That wasn’t the case with the UX3000. Bass sounded plentiful but not overwhelming of the mids and highs. I got the sense that the mids may be a little recessed but I’d need to spend more time with them to be certain. ANC seemed to work very well in the noisy ballroom we were all in without the music taking a noticeable sound quality hit. The UX3000 sit more on my ears than over them so that might become irritating after prolonged use but again, that would have to be tested in actual use. Battery life is rated at 25 hours with ANC on, 35 hours with it off.

The D8000 Pro are another manner entirely. They both look and sound the flagship part. Very balanced, linear presentation with excellent spatial qualities to its sound. These could easily be used for monitoring it they don’t blow your budget.

Having just seen “the Italians” at Florida Audio Expo it seems they followed me to CanJAM NYC! In all seriousness, it was good to see Giordano Zacchini and Andrea Ricci again and they seemed to be getting a fair amount of attention in this specialized crowd. While they had the flagship Valkyria and the Mistral BT that I heard in Florida here I decided to spend some time with the Titano ($1,760) and the Mistral PRO ($740) which were not at the last show. The Titano is a semi open-back design that, at first blush shares some design inspiration with the old Grado PS1000 and 2000e. But basic design cues is where it stops because Spirit Torino has engineered everything here themselves and gone off in all manner of design and customization directions with this model. This show sample had a laser etched antique map of Torino on it’s housing along with leather and alcantara vented earpads for good measure. The sound of the Titano to me is very similar to the Beyerdynamic T5 Gen 3. Very smooth, with good bass and midrange and not overbearing treble.

The Mistral PRO is an open back design with, in this case, blue stained and lacquered wooden earcups, sorry I did not get the wood species or a photo, but I suspect mahogany. Otherwise they look just like the Mistral BT I heard in Florida but without the integrated BT module and app. These sounded like a great all-around headphone. Very fun and pleasing to listen to and comfortable to wear. I’m hoping to get a review sample to check out in the near future!

The Rupert Neve Fedelice DAC/Headamp ($4,995) is both a beautiful looking and great sounding piece of equipment. It’s top-shelf AKM based DAC section has all the digital inputs you could want including USB, the headphone outputs are 1/4” unbalanced, XLR balanced, and Pentacon style balanced jacks. The rear panel also includes balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs with either fixed or variable output levels so the Fedilece can double as a full preamp in your system too.

I listened to the Fedelice through a couple of pairs of RAD 0 planar magnetic headphones from Rosson Audio ($2,650 and up, depending on options). The red pair had been specifically tuned to be used with the Fedelice and the two are available as a package. The green headphones had a slightly different sound signature, but not by much, both headphones sounded wonderful with the Fedelice. Headphones are made in California and the DAC/Amp is made in Texas.

Audeze had a large presence at CanJAM so let’s start with the basics. The latest flagship planar headphone the LCD-5 ($4,500) is lighter and more comfortable than the LCD-4, and it has a clean revealing sound to it that a lot of people I spoke with love. I do as well but, I found that the LCD-X ($1,199) were just a little more appealing to me. They had a little more bass punch to them that was more my speed. Different strokes for different folks!

Audeze’s Sankar Thiagasamudram showed me the medical electrostatic headphone for MRI scanner use that he helped develop. It was from material innovations regarding using carbon nanotubes in the electrostatic membrane (allowing for the elimination of metal traces) that inspired them to apply this technology to an audiophile headphone. From that was born the new Audeze Carbon Electrostatic headphones ($4,500). These gorgeous headphones are comfortable and sound as effortless and musical as any other electrostatic headphone that I’ve ever heard. The electrostatic headphone space just got a lot more interesting.

Tube lovers rejoice! If you have electrostatic headphones and you must, must, must experience their musical charms through tubes, then eksonic is here to make your valve dreams come true! If you simply want the full “enchilada” then commission them to build you their “Kerry-built” T2 amp. This two-chassis beast will drive any two sets of electrostatic cans into sheer bliss-dom! It will however set you back a mere $13,000 for the pleasure.

But if your budget doesn’t allow for such lavishness, eksonic will have you covered with their soon-to-be released single chassis Aeras amp. The company says that the Aeras will bring you a large slice of the T2’s sonic goodness at about half the price.($6,700). A quick listen to both of them via a pair of STAX 007 Mk I was very, very enjoyable!

You’ve heard of “That Little Band from Texas” well a small company called Noble is that “Little Earphone Company from Texas” and they certainly do make an impression! I started with checking out their Fokus Pro wireless IEMs ($349) and the Falcon ANC IEMs ($189). The Fokus Pro use both an 8.2mm dynamic driver and two Knowles balanced armature drivers in each earbud. They use the Bluetooth 5.2 spec and support SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive codecs. The earbuds last 7.5 hours on a charge with a case that will self charged the IEMs 3-4 time before needing juice itself. A free app is available for Android and iOS with custom EQ settings and other goodies. I really liked both the fit and the sound quality of the Fokus Pro and I could see them making a good daily driver earphone. The brand new Falcon ANC uses a single 10mm titanium dynamic driver, use the same BT codecs as the Fokus Pro and it also comes with an app. Sound and comfort were also very good and the ANC seemed effective for the surrounding show noise. Both these wireless options look like very good values if you are looking for something like them.

On the wired IEM front I got to listen to two versions of Noble’s Sultan model (starts at $2,900). The Sultan is available in universal or custom fit versions and the several customization options are available for the faceplate. The ones I tried had a folded Damascus steel faceplate. In each earbud the Sultan uses a 10mm dynamic driver for the bass, 4 Knowles balanced armature drivers for the midrange and 2 electrostatic drivers for the treble. All are housed in a CNC milled aluminum housing. These had to be some of the most comfortable and best fitting IEMs I have ever worn. The sound quality was particularly outstanding, very appealing to my tastes and I tried multiple genres of music with and they all sounded good. But that wasn’t the end of the Sultan experience, because Noble had a e tra special custom version there, under a display case. The housing was made out of solid gold. Nope not plated, SOLID GOLD. Each earbud was bejeweled with an array of flawless diamonds where the faceplate would normally be. The whole shebang was finished off with pire silver cabling. What I can’t believe was they actually let me wear them! For as heavy as these solid gold IEMs were, they were still supremely comfortable and the sound was as outstanding as the standard Sultan. The price for these “Kardashian-ized” Sultans was $18K.

Putting aside the specialness of the blinged versions, I am not an IEM person. In real life will wear them only if I don’t have another option. I don’t know what it is about the universal fit of the Noble IEMs I tried but they were especially comfortable and sealed well in my ears. And the sound signature was very much to my liking. They very well could convince me to actually start liking IEMs!

The HeadAmp sponsored room was full of all manner of fun stuff but the thing I wanted to check out were the recently released STAX SRX 9000 earspeakers ($6,200). I have a soft spot for STAX electrostatics and these new flagship headphones definitely were extra. A newly developed driver and a redesigned and more comfortable headband are the immediate take aways, and then theres that sound. Hooked up to the lovely Blue Hawaii tube amp ($7,500) that was there, the SRX 9000 just sounded so effortless, with a great soundstage and endless detail. Bass also was a little better than I was expecting. STAX may no longer be the only electrostatic headphone name in town anymore but there is a reason why they are still revered. Nothing else sounds quite like them.

Woo Audio is well known and well regarded for making tube gear for headphone listening. They had a few different smaller tube headamp models at the show but this big, silver, Godzilla of a fully balanced tube amp was definitely the star of the room. Called the WA33, it uses four 6C45 driver tubes, four 2A3 power tubes, and one 5U4G rectifier tube. Besides having a 4-pin XLR headphone jack and a 1/4” single ended jack, it also has a stereo pair of 3-pin headphone XLR jacks. The WA33 will also act as a preamp with 2 pairs of analog XLR inputs and one set of RCA inputs. Priced at $8,499 with the standard tube set, Woo Audio offers a few stages of upgraded tubes and wiring if you so choose. Another lovely looking and sounding piece of gear.

Soundcore by Anker had an affordable but decent-sounding set of ANC headphones. For $129.00 they aren’t necessarily audiophile grade but they were comfy and sounded better than one might expect. A little bass-heavy out of the box, but they come with a free app for Android and iOS that is chock full of EQ options. They work with SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs.

Empire Audio is another boutique builder of high-quality IEMs and after reading the description of their flagship Odin model I figured that I had to check them out. The description reads “11 driver Tribrid/7-way synX crossover network.” The drivers per earbud are broken down like this: two 9mm subwoofer drivers, five balanced armature drivers, and four electrostatic drivers. This could turn out to be something that sounds either super-cool or super-messy. Turns out it’s the former. The Odin sounded quite impressive with a variety of music that I tried along with having a dose of extra potent bass when called for. They are a pretty unique choice!

Dealer Bloom Audio was showing off Astell&Kern’s new Acro CA1000 combination headphone amp and DAP ($2,199). The unit can act as both a portable player and a desktop headphone amp/music player with its novel retractable touch screen interface. The unit is heavy, like it was hewn from a block of metal. I love the feel and tactile smoothness of the volume control. Someone went though a great deal of effort designing this very intriguing looking device. It will decode up to 32 bit / 384 kHz PCM and DSD512, drive both balanced and single-ended headphones and will stream to wireless BT headphones via aptX HD or LDAC. Astell&Kern has a knack for coming up with unique and interesting products and the Acro CA1000 is no different.