A place for impressions and general discussion about CanJam SoCal 2025.
Is anyone besides me going? Would love to meet in person so if you see me there, be sure to say “Hello”!
Curious, do you spend most of your time trying gear, or talking with fellow conference goers?
About 50/50 if you count off hours. During conference hours it is mostly trying gear.
As a follow up, do you ever come away so impressed by what you heard that you either buy it on the spot, or later?
haven’t had the chance to watch all (almost) 6 hours myself yet but Head-Fi has dropped their SoCal 2025 video for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet!
TL;DR Yes
The one headphone I bought on the spot I’d heard before but I did compare it to several others at CanJam before buying. There are a few headphones and a tube amp or two that I want to buy but can’t afford - yet. There was one headphone I would have bought on the spot but I’d already bought a different headphone - still may get it at some point. There are more than a few headphones that I absolutely would not buy after hearing them at CanJam.
This year I’ll be staying at a rental house with other attendees and will also have some quiet time to demo their equipment - and vice-versa.
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Ironic video title 
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For me, it’s talking with other conference goers. It’s really the community that I’m at events for. There just aren’t a ton of really interesting new products being released, and after hearing so much gear, so many things sound the same. Not to mention that a show floor environment is one of the hardest to evaluate with AND how much your general mood/activity affects your hearing. The other thing is that if there’s gear that’s truly worth a review, it’s better to wait to get it as a review unit rather than try to ramble on about impressions.
That said, if there’s something interesting I’ll of course take the time to go hunt for it.
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Looks like you found it! 
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My CanJam SoCal 2025 Impressions
Test tracks used:
and a few others if I had time
Apos K1K(?): I’ll start with what was the highlight of the show for me. It doesn’t have an official name yet but I like the one its creator proposed: the K1K aka “kik”. It’s an homage/clone/knock off/rip-off of the AKG K1000 “ear speakers”.
The tuning was distinctly different, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They had the original there to try as well and the main thing I noticed was elevated upper treble on the K1000. The K1K had a more modern tuning. There was spaciousness. There was vocal imaging. There was punch. There was even decent bass at the right angle. I am definitely buying a pair when they become available. Highly addicting. I recommended them to all of my friends. One started listening to Tool - 7empest on them and just turned to the creator and said “Thank you!”. I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts as well.
Warwick Aperio GSE: For me this is the best tuned headphone I have ever heard - full stop. Plenty of tight, articulate bass with excellent sub bass. Incredible snap to the drums, like I was genuinely surprised enough to exclaim “Oh wow!”. But also great detail and tone to drums as well. Plenty of spaciousness. Just a pure pleasure to listen to.
Sennheiser HE-1: I might as well touch on these now since I am going to compare them to the Aperio GSE. This is the 2nd time I’ve heard the HE-1 and I listened to them on the same day as the Aperio GSE. In a nutshell I think the tunings are extremely similar. The Aperio GSE seemed to have more sub bass and snap. But the HE-1 had a more euphoric sound. I came away theorizing that the main difference between the two was that the HE-1 has tubes so the sound is a bit tubey in a good way. If I had the money, I would choose the Aperio GSE but it really does come down to preference as usual.
Abyss 1266 TC: I’d heard the 1266 twice at local meets before and never really liked them. Listening to them at the Abyss booth was quite the experience though. VERY punchy with excellent detail. Maybe not the most spacious sounding but no complaints there either. Comfort was ok for me. I listened to another pair later back at the rental house and was not as impressed. Not sure whether it was the $15k Woo WA33 and $XXk Boulder amps at the Abyss booth or just getting the thing to fit properly. They are historically finicky about head placement but I didn’t want to mess up my friend’s 1266 setup.
Raal Immanis: Someone brought an Immanis setup with them to the rental house and you know what? It was actually fairly good when I heard it in the morning before CanJam. The treble is definitely elevated in a way that reminded me of the AKG K1000 giving the impression that you can hear EVERYTHING in the recording. It’s not really my thing but I did have a good time. However listening to it in the evening after CanJam the treble sounded pretty harsh. Maybe I was just tired. I meant to try it again the next day but never got around to it.
Fostex XXX: I tried several models in both open and closed back and the story was the same. Too much bass and lower mids combined with harsh treble. Funny thing is that I have a pair of Philphones which use a driver that Fostex also uses and they sound great. Phil could really show Fostex a thing or two.
Final D8000 X: I tried two D8000 models and they both had very bad vocal sibilance. Other than that they were actually quite good if not potentially great. Significant snap to drums, for one thing.
Hifi For All Dahlia: I tried these briefly at last year’s CanJam and was impressed but didn’t have the budget or the confidence to preorder. Someone at the house had a pair and I compared them to the Focal Utopia, Hifiman HE1000 Unveiled, and Modhouse Tungsten V2 - three times. Each time I declared that even if I didn’t know how much anything costs, to my astonishment I’d pick the Dahlia. Now understand that I really, really like a good punchy dynamic and I’m willing to sacrifice some detail to get it. What about the Utopia? The bass was easily better on the Dahlia, frankly.
Jupiter Audio Research HD800: This is a modified Sennheiser HD800. Unlike the stock HD800 it has excellent, articulate bass. The only thing that surprised me more than the premium sound was the premium price tag of $3k. And that’s after you’ve bought an HD800 or HD800S.
ZMF Bokeh open: These sounded very similar to how I remembered my Bokeh closed sound, but with more bass. Too much bass. And not enough openness for an open back. I didn’t really understand the point of these unless you are an even bigger bass head than I am (and that’s ok).
Hifiman HE1000 Unveiled. Very impressed by these. Similar to my Tungsten V2s but music sounded a bit thinner and more detailed. Maybe a bit more spacious. The HE1000 bass was a slightly punchier but the Tungsten bass was a little more articulate. Overall timbre was more realistic from the Tungsten. I compared the two several times and just felt that it came down to preference for me. I’d be happy with either. And if you EQ it really doesn’t matter.
Don’t forget these are just brief impressions, everyone has their own unique ears, YMMV, blah blah blah hedging, yada yada these are my opinions - you can’t have them.
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I’m sad I didn’t have time to go try the Final D8000X or Apos K1K 
Wow, that Apos K1K sounds interesting.
Seeing from Zach M.’s channel that Skedra was there and that the Draupnir is available for preorder now, are there any impressions on those?
I also know that there was an opportunity to test the ETA Uli so I would be very interested on impressions on those.
These two headphones are currently the only ones on my ‘I genuinely want these for my collection’ list for being so unique and ambitious.
I almost posted on these but honestly I didn’t get a lot of time with them and I didn’t get to hear my own music. I can tell you that the carbon fiber version sounds quite good and the bass is actually just about right for me. Skedra put the “monster bass” pads on and it was way to much bass for me, but might be fun on certain tracks or certain moods. My only question is whether they are worth the asking price considering the current competition. To answer that I’d need at least a half hour or so with my own music. But if you’re willing to risk spending more because you like the concept, want to support Skedra, or are a bass head that doesn’t use EQ, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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Sounds like you had a blast! Thanks for the impressions, very interesting. I’d put the HE-1 and Warwick on my bucket list to hear. I’d have loved to meet up with you at the show, as we have some similar taste and overlap in music/gear, and I think CanJam would be so much fun!
What you said about HFA Dahlia (and Utopia) plus the Bokeh Open really stood out for me.
I owned the Dahlia for a while, but eventually sold it on. Wanted to love it, but for me it had a roughness or grittiness in the treble region I never could get past, even after lots of pad and ring variations. And it never had enough bass to really be satisfying!
I’ve never felt myself to be treble sensitive, though Hifiman in general and the Dahlia just caused pain at certain times. I have the Utopia 2020, and to me it hits way harder in the bass and dynamically overall than Dahlia. For me there’s no comparison. Plus the level of resolution and detail retrieval is next level, which should be the case given the price difference.
I did my own three way cage match between Bokeh Open, Dahlia, and Focal Clear OG. My overall preference ranking is Bokeh Open, Clear, and Dahlia in 3rd place.
My point here is I find it so interesting how differently we all hear any given piece of gear, and how it suits our own HRTF. Of course my impressions are entirely my own, and I really wanted to like the Dahlia. Nick is really dedicated and a very cool guy, and his is the nicest of the Peerless driver DIY headphones imo.
I’m listening to Fear Innoculum coincidentally (on my Bokeh Open 
) really enjoying the album on Cayin HA-3A amp, so cheers and happy listening!
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@AudioTool Did you hear the Warwick Bravura too? Warwick had their soundproof listening booth at Axpona last year, and I got to compare the Bravura and Aperio.
The Aperio sounded more technically impressive (so much detail!) but I enjoyed the tuning of the “cheaper” Bravura more. The Bravura was a little warmer in the mids, like a ZMF Atrium tuning, but much more detailed than an Atrium.
I explained this to the Warwick rep, ansking if it was weird that I preferred their less expensive product and a random guy next to him told me that his brother agreed with my findings. After chatting with random guy some more, I discovered he was @andrew , just as his brother @taronlissimore strolled over. Weird coincidence.
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I had a similar experience at Axpona comparing the Raal Imanis to the Magna. The Imanis sounded technically impressive, with huge amounts of detail but I found the cheaper Magna more musical, because it had a warmer mid bass and vocals also sounded richer, which aligned more with my preferences.
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Interesting. I was comparing the Dahlia to Utopia OG but that shouldn’t make a difference in the dynamics. I assume you had the dynamic tuning ring installed in the Dahlia?
I did not hear any issue with the Dahlia treble, but that is something that usually only becomes apparent to me after spending more than a few minutes with a headphone. I suspect I am not very sensitive to treble issues overall either. Which makes my comments on the Fostex an even bigger warning. OTOH as you said we all have different HRTF and it could just be that I have a better match to the Dahlia.
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I have heard the Bravura a few times in the past. I wish there was one available to listen to this year but no one brought it that I found. I understand why Warwick wanted to show off the difference between the Aperio and Aperio GSE. But full disclosure, it doesn’t matter to me if I prefer the Bravura as I cannot afford an Aperio. I can afford a Bravura if I sell enough gear and I have a goal of owning one by next year.
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I demoed the Aperio and Bravura in a private room at CAF 2024. Both were laid out side-by-side on the table. I told them the HD 800 S was my daily driver. When the guys asked which one I wanted to try, I started with the Aperio. Both faces went tense in a way that you can’t fake, and they emphasized that the ~$40,000 Aperio setup was meant to be a luxury product.
To be honest, they were…not that different under show conditions. I also demoed the TOTL Stax setup just across the walkway. It’s character wasn’t that different either. In contrast, the CRBN around the corner and its awful treble were a hard no.
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Thanks that’s reassuring. Was the Aperio the GoldenSound Signature Edition? One of the things that stood out to me switching from the OG Aperio to the Aperio GSE was that the bass really tightened up. I liked it but I don’t think it’s anything that I can’t EQ into of the Bravura if it has the same bass profile as the OG Aperio.
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