CanJam NYC 2025

Musicteck

As I say every year, CanJam NYC can’t be complete without Musicteck, which has established itself as a regular at the show, making it its 6^th NYC appearance, though they are also becoming regulars at SoCal and Dallas CanJams as well. With multiple dozens of products across 5-6 tables, they cover a ton of IEMs, DAPs, cables, portable DAC/amps, and dongles, and are the exclusive US distributor to some well-known manufacturers. This year, Musicteck showcased 100+ products across 40+ brands and even surprised everybody with many Special Edition and Collaboration releases exclusive to their store.

It goes without saying how busy their booth gets, with people sitting and standing around on both sides of the tables. It’s also the place where you can find most of the Watercooler crew hanging around throughout the day, jokingly referring to Andrew as their “dealer” who gets them a fix for their addiction. I can’t physically audition everything at the Musicteck tables, so I often ask to borrow some of the products after the show for a few days. Last year, I even put together CanJam SoCal and Dallas reports without visiting the show and based on borrowing boxes of products from Musicteck tables.

At the CanJam NYC ’25 show they had current and upcoming IEM releases from Unique Melody, qdc, Alpha & Omega, AME, Aroma Audio, Jomo Audio, BGVP, Campfire, Canpur, Elysian Acoustic, Empire Ears, FlipEars, Forte Ears, Kinera, Lime Ears, Melodic Artification, Meze Audio, NGaudio, Noble, Oriolus, Quill Acoustics, Rhapsodio, Softears, Thieaudio, Timsok, Simphonio Audio, and Vision Ears. You can also find DAPs from Shanling, A&K, ONIX, NiPO, Cayin, Lotoo, Hiby, and Luxury & Precision. And there were plenty of cables from PWA, Astral Acoustics, Beat Audio, Brise Audio, Effect Audio, Eletech, HanSound, Vortex, and Flash Acoustics. And of course, you were able to audition the famous Brise Audio FUGAKU!

Between the latest reviews on my site and many in-depth mini-reviews in my recent CanJam SoCal and CanJam Dallas reports, I have already covered a lot of these products. Thus, in my overview below I will go over only the new and exclusive products found at the Musicteck tables during CanJam NYC ’25 show.

UM Mest Jet Black (DD/4BA/2EST/3BCD) – a beautiful jet-black ceramic shell with golden screw accents. With stock PWA cable I hear a smooth natural detailed tuning, following the direction of sound changes from Mest MK2 to MK3 with some improvements. The bass is slightly scaled down and more balanced between sub- and mid-bass. There is still more sub-bass emphasis, but the bass is more coherent and balanced relative to mids/treble. The mids sound natural, organic, clear, and detailed, not as distant or pulled back as in MK2, and not as forward and close to the listener as in MK3, definitely an improvement in presentation. The treble is also more natural, and less aggressive, though it still maintains the lower-treble presence similar to MK2 (unlike the MK3) without a mid-treble boost of MK2 and MK3. With the stock EA cable, the sound has more transparency and is still smooth, with natural tuning, but with less coloring, more clarity, and higher resolution. Also, EA cable has a more premium look.

UM Stardust (2DD/4BA) – nicely expanded soundstage with imaging pushing the sound slightly more in front of you, deep bass with more sub-bass rumble though the mid-bass punch is not bad either, comes through with a nice clean punch, clear detailed natural mids, and natural detailed treble. Looking at Stardust’s slightly textured titanium shell reminded me of UM Maven II Crescent (with its smoother titanium shell). Maybe you can even call Stardust a Maven II’s little brother. They do differ in terms of the Maven II soundstage being more holographic and the upper frequencies being more revealing, especially in mid-treble. But if you want Maven II sound with a more organic top-end presentation, Stardust is a great choice, and very affordable too.

UM x MT SE (exclusive Special Edition) – the soundstage here is more center-focused, though the imaging is almost on a holographic level. I hear a very fast and punchy bass, well-extended rumble, clear detailed mids, and clear sparkly treble. I didn’t spend as much time with these, however found them to stand out with a very engaging bass.

Softears x MT SE (exclusive Special Edition) – based on my short time with it, I hear a smooth neutral tuning with a natural retrieval of details. Polite bass impact with more sub-bass depth than punch, smooth natural detailed mids with a more forward presentation, and soft relaxed treble.

qdc x MT King SE (DD/10BA/4EST) (exclusive Special Edition) – balanced resolving tuning with deep punchy bass, neutral detailed mids, and clear detailed treble. This one goes beyond the neutral tuning of their recent Emperor/Empress releases, giving the King a more fun tuning with punchier bass and more energetic treble. This finetuning takes the King to the next level.

NGaudio Meteora (10BA/8EST) – a warmer smoother tuning with a deep blooming bass, organic soulful vocals, and smooth relaxed treble. The weight/impact of the bass was impressive for BA driver performance. Also, I hear a decent soundstage expansion with more depth/height than width.

Softears VolumeS (DD/2BA) – while not exclusive or brand new, this is still a new release many were talking about because of its dual-switch tuning and $319 price tag. With a switch counterclockwise (low-impedance mode) – I hear a natural clear detailed tuning with a strong punchy bass; the clockwise switch position (high-impedance mode) lowered the volume, scaled down the bass and pushed mids more forward with additional clarity/crunch in treble. As I read more about this IEM, the switch here changes the impedance instead of crossover, which affects the tuning. Between the switch positions, I heard a very noticeable change in bass and treble.

Epic Audio Encephalorrhagia (12BA/8EST) – I can’t even pronounce the name and googling it found a reference to brain hemorrhage; however, I think these beautiful Damascus steel IEMs could do more hemorrhage to your wallet than your brain. I hear a warmer, fuller body tuning, with a deep, rounded, balanced bass, smooth organic mids with a decent retrieval of details, and relaxed smooth treble. The soundstage is a bit narrow, with more depth/height, extending more out of your head, though despite that, the imaging is very good.

FlipEars Legion (DD/BCD/Electret self-powered tweeter) – the soundstage is big and holographic. The bass is deep, bouncy, and elevated, especially the sub-bass. It also has a subtle reverb effect making the low end more layered/expanded/3D. Mids are clear, natural, and detailed, and have a forward presentation, extending farther out of your head. The treble has a nice mid-treble sparkle. The main focus of the tuning here is a bombastic bouncy bass with an interesting reverb effect. Also, the shell design was super cool.

Alpha Omega Fulgrim (DD/6BA/6EST) (exclusive to Musicteck) – the tuning has a very distinct focus on the bass with a deep elevated sub-bass and a very strong mid-bass punch. But despite its scaled-up quantity, the bass is very articulate, tight, fast, well-controlled, and well-separated from the mids. Mids have a rather neutral lower mids and forward, clear, detailed upper mids along with a well-defined mid-treble sparkle. What makes this IEM stand out is a very powerful physical bass impact that doesn’t overwhelm the tuning, still keeping it quite balanced, resolving, and detailed, wrapped in a big expanded holographic soundstage.

Kinera ThorKing (DD/6BA/4EST) – a very interesting fast neutral tuning with a nicely expanded soundstage that has more depth/height. Bass is textured in quality and very neutral in quantity, blending in smoothly with the neutrally tuned natural tonality mids. Despite their neutral tuning, and considering a neutral bass, the upper mids have a perception of a more forward presentation enhanced by a nice resolving sparkle of mid-treble.

Quill Acoustics Satin (DD/7BA/PMD/BCD) (Musicteck exclusive) – I hear a big, open holographic soundstage expansion. The sound signature of Satin is W-shaped balanced with a more revealing tonality. The bass tuning is tilted more toward the elevated sub-bass with a nicely textured rumble, complemented by a fast tight mid-bass punch. Lower mids are south of neutral, so don’t expect too much body in sound, while upper mids are more revealing, layered, and micro-detailed. The treble is crystal clear, with plenty of crunch, sparkle, and airy extension. While having a revealing upper-frequency tuning, I found Satin to carefully avoid sibilant peaks.