CanJam NYC 2024

Musicteck

CanJam NYC can’t be complete without Musicteck which has established itself as regulars at the show, making it its 5^th appearance, though they are also becoming regulars at SoCal CanJams as well. With multiple dozens of products across 4 or 5 cables (I thought there were 4 tables, but looking at pictures there could have been 5), they cover a lot of popular IEMs, DAPs, cables, portable DAC/amps, and dongles, and even being the exclusive US distributor to some well-known manufacturers. Every year I notice more desktop equipment at the CanJam NYC show, while the upcoming CanJam SGP is the polar opposite with a focus on portable gear. Thus, you can think of Musicteck tables at the CanJam NYC show being a teaser of what to expect next at the SGP show.

In my overview below I will try to go over some of the new products I saw at their tables. The lines are usually long, and people end up sitting on both sides of their tables, especially lots of Watercoolers from Head-fi. You can easily spend two days in there alone and still won’t have enough time to hear everything. We are talking about IEMs from Unique Melody, Oriolus, Aroma, VE, Empire Ears, Noble, FatFreq, Elysian Acoustic Labs, Nostalgia Audio, Canpur, DITA, Timsok, qdc, and more, including the latest additions for Flipears and AME. Then, DAP manufacturers like Lotoo, Cayin, Shanling, Hiby, L&P. And cable brands like Effect Audio, Eletech, PWA, Brise Audio (including their Tsuranagi amp), Liquid Links, and the latest additions from Beat Audio.

While I try not to focus on products I have already reviewed, you can’t help but notice people gathered around Unique Melody products, such as their latest UM Mason FS Soleil Tombe and Nuit Etoilee, Amber Pearl, Multiverse, and Mest MK3, spanning across a wide price range, all of which I have covered already (reviewed here). The same was around Vision Ears’ latest VE10 (reviewed here) and Aroma Fei Wan (covered here). Another display gathering a lot of attention was from Oriolus, with their latest quad-DD Monachaa (reviewed here) and one of the show highlights – Traillii Ti.

Traillii Ti still has 8BA/4EST driver config, but the tuning has changed from the original JP version. While auditioning these during the show, I found a tighter and more articulate bass, more forward mids (relative to JP) with more clarity and higher resolution, like a veil was lifted off, and also a bit more natural treble. Relative to the original Traillii JP, this is a new tuning with a more revealing, cleaner, punchier sound and faster bass. After the CanJam show, I was able to borrow Ti and put together a more detailed analysis (reviewed here) with a/b comparison to the original JP version.

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Rhapsodio Supreme v3 with its new dual aluminum magnetostatic driver (DD) generated a buzz in Watercooler before the show, so I was curious about these as well. Here, I found a soundstage that extends more forward and out of your head (more depth than width). The tuning has a neutral textured bass, thinner body lower mids, revealing analytical upper mids, and a very crisp treble. These IEMs have a hi-res analytical tuning.

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Then, I spotted the latest from Noble Audio, their quadbrid (DD/4BA/2EST/BCD) Noble Onyx IEMs. It had a big, rounded soundstage and L-shaped tuning with a warmer natural tonality. Big impactful bass (a healthy low-shelf boost), fuller body natural organic mids, and clear natural treble. While there is a definitive emphasis on bass, the rest still has plenty of natural organic clarity.

I didn’t have a chance to hear all AME iems, but AME Raven (8BAs/4ESTs) did catch my attention, maybe because of its name? Here, I found an intimate soundstage with more depth than width. It has a nicely balanced W-shaped tuning with a natural, smooth, detailed tonality. Well-rounded slightly elevated bass with DD-like texture, clean, detailed mids, and natural resolving treble. There is no extra emphasis to make anything stand out in particular, just a very balanced coherent tuning.

DITA Project M (9.8mm + BA) has been a topic of many recent discussions in the Watercooler thread, considering its budget price tag of $325. These IEMs have a rather premium looks, quality cable, and even a unique storage case. The tuning was geared more toward treble-heads with a neutral textured DD bass performance, more natural mids tonality, and elevated mid-treble to give the sound higher resolution and extra-crisp details.

I have heard about Flipears on Head-fi but never heard these IEMs until now. Right away I noticed that all of them had a nozzle “sleeve” that extends beyond the bore opening tip. Typically, sound tubes connected to the drivers go to the bore opening of the nozzle tip and sounds are mixed as they enter your ear canal. Here, after exiting corresponding sound tubes, sounds are mixed inside of that extended sleeve before going into your ear canal. The following impressions were finalized after I borrowed these IEMs after the show, thus you will find more details than I could have collected with limited time during the show.

Flipears Artha/Artha AG (4BAs, 2 switches). With both switches off, I hear an intimate soundstage, and a more neutral tuning with softer bass, smoother treble, and forward presentation of vocals. Turning only sw1 on elevates the bass while keeping the upper mids and treble the same, giving the sound a more balanced signature with a warmer fuller body tonality. Turning only sw2 on gives you a slight boost in upper mids and an even smoother treble, widening the soundstage a bit. With both switches on, I heard a wider soundstage, bass boost, and slight boost in upper mids to give the sound a more W-shaped balanced tuning and improved retrieval of details. The silver version of Artha Silver (AG) has heavier “silver” shells with an engraved faceplate. In theory, it has the same driver config, but while listening I did hear more forward vocals with a slight boost in pinna gain.

Flipears Zurg 24 (2DD/3BA/2EST). These have a big soundstage expansion, smooth balanced tuning, nice, rounded bass boost (tasteful, but not too much), clear detailed vocals with a natural tonality, and subtle mid-treble sparkle. Despite the tribrid design, it has a very coherent laidback clear detailed tuning.

Flipears Aurora 24/Gold (2DD/6BA/2EST). These have an intimate soundstage expansion, projecting forward with more depth than width, V-shaped tuning with elevated deep bass, pulled-back smooth organic vocals, and clear detailed natural treble. The gold version has a heavier shell, featuring 24k gold-plated silver shells and small moissanite diamonds. It does look fancy. The sound signature is the same, V-shaped tuning with elevated deep bass, pulled-back vocals, and clear detailed treble. But the mids/vocals in the gold version have more clarity, are still smooth and natural but not as organic as the regular version, having less coloring.

Another discovery at Musicteck tables was the selection of Beat Audio cables, also a brand I heard about before but never had a chance to audition. These were colorful cables with custom “gold” hardware. Following are my quick impressions which I also finalized after the show using Jewel for testing with P6 Pro.

Emerald MKIII (Silver Plated Copper) enhances the soundstage expansion, has a more neutral-revealing tonality, hardly any sound coloring. Cyclone (Pure Copper) enhances the soundstage expansion, adds more bass texture, makes mids a bit smoother and more natural, and the same with the treble. Oslo MKIV (Silver) opens the sound with a huge soundstage expansion and more holographic imaging, close to a more neutral tonality with excellent retrieval of details, punchy low end, natural detailed mids, and sparkly treble. Orbit Saga (Silver, Copper, Gold) enhances the soundstage expansion and creates a more holographic imaging, has a more revealing, detail-oriented tuning with deeper bass enhancement, micro-detailed mids, and crystal-clear sparkly treble.

Besides IEMs and cables, you can always count on being able to audition many different DAPs at Musicteck tables. There were the latest Hiby R8ii (reviewed here), Cayin flagship N30LE (reviewed here) which I believe already sold out, most of the Astell&Kern DAPs including their flagship SP3000 (reviewed here), and Lotoo’s latest transportable Mjolnir which gathered quite a few people around it. But the one that got my attention was a new release from Cayin, N3 Ultra which made its debut at the CanJam NYC show, being showcased at Musicteck tables.

Still featuring a pair of Raytheon JAN6418 tubes like in N3 Pro, Cain N3 Ultra was completely re-designed. You can now use 4.4mm BAL output with Tubes and select 2 distinct Tube sound-tuning modes. Also, you get a bigger display and a faster GUI, running on Android in the background. Plus, you get Parametric EQ. One thing you will not find is any type of wireless connection, not even Bluetooth because Cayin found that wireless signal interferes with Raytheon mini vacuum tubes, and they wanted a pure audio experience without any hiccups. This means you can use N3U with a microSD card for local playback or as a USB DAC connected to your laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. You can think of it as a vacuum tube USB-DAC dongle with its built-in battery, to use with your smartphone for streaming.

Upon spending some time and switching between modes, I found Solid-State output to have a very clean and clear detailed sound. When switching to Tubes and then to modern-timbre mode, I hear a bit more weight and texture, with more warmth added to the sound in comparison to solid-state mode. Then, I switched to Classic and… had a jaw-dropping experience. By far, that was my favorite tonality which added more analog tube texture to the sound, the real tube texture. The sound had a more laidback presentation, smoother, yet still natural and detailed. I went back and double-checked to make sure I still had the filter setting with a sharp roll-off because the sound was like butter, smooth, laidback, and textured. While listening, I continued to tap on the side of the DAP, to see if there was any ringing from tubes, but it was dead-quiet. Can’t wait to spend more time with this DAP.