CanJam NYC 2025

Intro.

I have been to every CanJam NYC show since it started nine years ago in 2017, with this year marking my 8th visit considering the 2021 show was canceled due to the pandemic. Without exaggeration or even saying “probably,” I have to say this was the biggest CanJam NYC I have attended to date. While being there for one day on Saturday, getting in before the doors opened and leaving with doors closing behind me, it was still physically impossible to cover even half of the tables. The number of manufacturers, retailers, and distributors goes up yearly, utilizing every square inch of the main floor with extra rows of tables, leaving no room even for a small lounge area in the middle like they used to have in the past.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock, CanJam Shows is a well-established international phenomenon, spreading across the globe from NYC, SoCal, Chicago, and Dallas to London, Singapore, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. For those in the US and Canada, CanJam is a big deal because we don’t get as many audio shows focusing on portable and desktop audio gear aimed at audiophiles. Also, on this side of the pond, we don’t have as many physical audio stores as in some other countries, especially in Asia, since brick-and-mortar locations are rare here, meaning a lot of purchases are done blindly, and paying a restocking fee when you change your mind in some cases can add up.

I get excited to see and talk face-to-face with many manufacturers and retailers, and to test new products before committing to review them. But the biggest source of the excitement comes from a chance to meet in person people from our ever-growing Watercooler Head-fi community, another expanding phenomenon of its own, with head-fiers from around the world discussing audio and non-audio related topics and encouraging each other to empty their wallets. It is a great mini community where Head-fiers talk about anything, regardless of the price tag or the personal sound preference. You can spot a Watercooler member at the show wearing magnetic tags with their screen names, including manufacturers and retailers joining the group!

The CanJam Show is being held on the weekend at the Broadway Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel located in Times Square of Manhattan, a two-day event, and you do need both Saturday and Sunday if you are serious about trying most of the products, though even 2 full days is probably not enough anymore. I made it a tradition to attend only on Saturdays and focus on portable gear, driving to Manhattan (from NJ) while reserving a parking spot across Times Square ahead of time to save time and money. On the way to the show on the 6^th floor of the hotel, while walking across Times Square, it also became traditional for me to note cosplay performers, soliciting tourists for pictures (and money while taking them).

In my usual disclaimer, I used to write CanJam reports to report what I saw at the show, helping people discover new stuff, and bringing up names of brands and products they were unaware of. In the last few years, I added more details, including short impressions, the reason my reports are longer and take a few weeks to finish them. However, it is impossible to do an accurate sound analysis in a noisy environment and a short time while being surrounded by a ton of people. I noticed sometimes people quote my show reports as a review, but it’s not. I will review a product when I have a chance to spend more time with it, doing focused testing in a quiet environment. Now, with this disclaimer out of the way, get a bucket of popcorn, and let’s proceed to find out what I came across at the CanJam NYC 2025 show!

Overview of the Showroom.

Just like in the last few years, I’m starting this report with a brief showroom overview. After skipping the main waiting line to pick up my Media Press pass, I race down the aisles before the main crowd of attendees pours in. This allows me to take more pictures of the tables with manufacturers and retailers putting the finishing touches as the show is about to begin. You can get a good idea of the show scale and the majority of manufacturers and retailers in attendance since I can only cover a fraction of the day in the report. A picture is always worth a thousand words, as long as it is not blurry, which happens when I rush with my phone camera and under the neon lights from the ceiling. For your enjoyment, in this section, you will only find pictures without any comments. Also, if you see an empty table, don’t assume there were no people in attendance. It just means I could take a picture before the main crowd got to the showroom floor.