CanJam is the world’s premier headphone audio show, produced annually in cities including New York, London, LA and Singapore by Head-Fi.org, the world’s largest online headphone community. It’s an opportunity for manufacturers to pull back the curtain on new technology before it reaches the market, and get some global attention for it.
As such, for anyone who depends on headphones professionally, CanJam is essential watching. Here’s the 5 headphone (and 1 non-headphone) highlights, which grabbed our attention from the weekend, including a potential candidate for our list of the best budget audiophile headphones, and the best Bluetooth headphones too.
01. HiFiMAN goes wireless
HiFiMAN’s been busy. The Chinese audio manufacturer recently pushed into gaming with the Kathari headphones and has been expanding its range with genuine ambition. Now it’s taken two of its most respected planar magnetic designs, the HE1000 and the Arya, and rebuilt them as Wi-Fi-focused wireless headphones, priced at $1,449 and $2,700 respectively.
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The key word is Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth. Bluetooth’s limited bandwidth compresses audio in ways that matter to critical ears. By transmitting over Wi-Fi rather than relying solely on Bluetooth, the headphones can handle full-resolution audio streams (PCM up to 768 kHz and native DSD) without the compression normally associated with wireless listening.
Built into each earcup is HiFiMAN’s proprietary Hymalaya R2R DAC and an integrated amplifier, making each headphone a self-contained playback system. Battery life in Wi-Fi mode sits at around six to seven hours.
02. Grell OAE2: headphones that sound like speakers
Axel Grell spent decades at Sennheiser, where he led development of some of the most revered headphones ever made. His own company is smaller, but no less serious. The OAE2, priced at $599 / £499, uses a technique called Front-sided Sound Field Modulation (FSFM), which interacts with the outer ear in a way that mimics the spatial cues of loudspeakers in a room.
The result is a soundstage that sits distinctly in front of you rather than inside your skull. For mixing and critical listening, that distinction matters enormously. The OAE2 has been available in Germany since December, with global release on 31 March. Watch this space: we have a review pair incoming.
03. Audeze LCD-5s: the flagship gets sharper
The LCD-5 was already one of the most respected reference and mixing headphones available. The new LCD-5s adds Audeze’s SLAM (Symmetric Linear Acoustic Modulator) tech, which refines how internal air pressure behaves and tightens bass impact and control.
The underlying driver is a 90mm planar magnetic unit built on Audeze’s established nano-scale diaphragm and Fluxor magnet array. Incremental, yes. But on a headphone at this level, increments count.
04. FiiO EH13: parametric EQ for $50
Not everything at CanJam costs four figures. FiiO’s EH13 is a Bluetooth over-ear headphone with active noise cancellation, LDAC hi-res wireless support and (the detail that had show attendees doing a double-take) a full parametric EQ accessible via the FiiO Control app. At $50 / €45 / $59.99, the price looks like a misprint, but it’s actually real.
Attendees at the show noted it wasn’t merely impressive for the money; it was genuinely good by any standard. Sound was described as neutral and clear, with none of the exaggerated bass boost common at this price point. The 40mm driver uses a sapphire-coated composite diaphragm, and battery life is rated at 75 hours. It also folds flat and supports wired use via the included 3.5mm cable.
05. ThieAudio Cypher: the most talked-about IEM
Launched simultaneously on Kickstarter and the show floor, the ThieAudio Cypher generated the kind of buzz that money rarely buys. While the brand is legendary for its IEMs, this flagship over-ear headphone marked a bold new chapter for ThieAudio.
By making the Cypher available for hands-on listening for the first time, attendees were able to experience its 50mm dynamic driver performance in person. The gamble of moving from in-ear to over-ear seems to have paid off: early impressions were strong enough to generate sustained hype across the show floor.
06. MA Audio INFINITUM: a materials first
The most technically significant announcement came from MA Audio, introducing a dual-model launch that pushes the boundaries of driver material science. While the INFINITUM represents their new flagship headphone, its in-ear counterpart has been designated the ETERNITUM.
Both mark the industry’s first implementation of a pure beryllium diaphragm within a planar magnetic driver. Beryllium is already highly regarded in world-class dynamic drivers, such as those found in the Focal Utopia, for its exceptional stiffness-to-weight ratio and lightning-fast transient response.
However, applying this notoriously difficult material to a planar magnetic structure represents a tougher engineering challenge than using it in a traditional dynamic setup. Whether the sonic results hold up beyond the show floor will be one of the more interesting audiophile questions of the year.
