Report: Canjam Europe / Essen 2016 Part 3 + Best of show winners

Sennheiser

Ever since Sennheiser introduced the new Orpheus which can’t be called that anymore, people have been wanting to listen to the HE-1. Sennheiser brought the HE-1 to Canjam and if you managed to get on the listening list, you got 15 minutes of listening time.

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Doesn’t that headphone look gorgeous?

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Of course Sennheiser didn’t only bring the HE-1 to Canjam but they of course wanted to show their HD800S to the crowd.

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Next to that they, just like at the previous shows, were still promoting the HD6XX and Apogee Groove combo. I’m not to fond of the combo myself as I feel the little box just can’t get the best out of these headphones.

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In the community area  a guy named “Renee” (I hope I wrote that the right way) was showing his modded HD800 and I have to say it sounded better than the HD800S… In materials this mod only costs a few Euro but it unfortunately is irreversible.

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Shure

Shure tends to bring their full line-up to Canjam Europe every year and their crowd is always very crowded to try out all the IEMS, full sized headphones and the KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System. Or are they just hanging out for the ice coffee?

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Hifiman / Sieveking

Not so long ago Hifiman announced the V2 of their successful HE-1000 and Edition X models. Sieveking brought both tho the show together with Hifiman’s EF100 Hybrid amp.

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The HE-1000 V2 supposedly didn’t get any driver revision but because of the new earpads, headband system and smaller earcups, it does sound different from the original HE-1000. My unit is still in burn-in but it looks like the V2 sounds clearer with a little less body in bass and lower mids.

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The Edition X V2’s finish is a lot nicer than the original V1‘s and the new matte black looks very sexy. I haven’t heard this one yet so I can’t comment on the difference in sound if there is any.

SoundMagic

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SoundMagic is especially known for their successful closed HP100, HP150 and open HP200 full sized headphones and of course the E10 inear monitor.

soundmagic-2They recently launched their latest P55 headphone which is a model that’s more on-ear than over ear. At the show the difference in sound between a new and played-in unit was very noticeable. Comfort wise these were great and we’ll be checking them out very soon!

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SPL

There can’t be a German headphone show without SPL joining the party.

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STAX

The stax corner was always very crowded with people swithcing amps and headphones all over the place.

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My attention especially went to the portable mini STAX but I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the sound

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Ultrasone

Ultrasone is one of those brands you either love or hate and that goes both sound- as design wise.

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To me still still is one of the best looking Ultrasone headphones

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A lot of people however were interested in this bling version

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Violectric

It’s always a pleasure talking to Fried and I’m a big fan of the brand having owned the V100, V200, V281, V800, V850 and PPA V600.

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This time however it was the LakePeople brand of which he was showing two new models, the HPA RS 02 and HPA RS 08

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If you’re proud of your work, you absolutely need a see-through top, that’s clear by now.

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This year Fried was also showing a special edition of the G100 amp called the “G100 Final”. Did you know this is the unit that got Violectric started?

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That’s it for the picture report of the 2016 show but now it’s time for the Best of Canjam Europe 2016 awards on the next Page, right after the click HERE or the jump below.

5/5 - (6 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

10 Comments

  • Reply October 2, 2016

    Tronco

    Nice report Lieven! Thank you for taking the time do to all those photos and the write up.

    • Reply October 2, 2016

      Lieven

      thank you. means alot. reading the report takes only a few minutes but making it takes hours and hours

  • Reply October 2, 2016

    Ritwik Anand

    I wonder is it a new gear thing or does Utopia really beats all the planars and electrostats and Hd800s.

    Enjoyed reading. Thanks you for the write up.

    • Reply October 2, 2016

      Ritwik Anand

      Darn…can’t correct the grammar.

      I can’t find the LP G100 amp for sale anywhere.

      • Reply October 2, 2016

        Lieven

        It’s brand new, it probably isn’t out yet.

    • Reply October 2, 2016

      dale thorn

      I’ve been lustfully following the Utopia, but I know it won’t match the bass of the best planars.

  • Reply October 2, 2016

    chris

    Ah Ah the bass on Elear and Utopia are even better than on my LCS2v2…Let’s try it and you will understand what I mean.

    • Reply October 2, 2016

      dale thorn

      I think I do understand, which is one reason I want the Utopia. But to hedge my bets, I was thinking what Innerfidelity said in their lengthy comments about the Utopia, so they must have been impressed by the greater (or firmer) low end weight of their favorite planars. We will find out what the deal is eventually. If I don’t end up making another deal I was thinking about in the next couple of months, I might get that Utopia.

  • Reply October 2, 2016

    Fabian

    This is Italy. Excellent job Lieven, like every year. I can’t believe that Audiolab wasn’t there…..
    I need a new DAC and after your review, I was thinking of Violectric V850 (my budget is 1300E
    and I’d like to get the best DAC for that amount) but before purchasing it, I want to see a serious
    review of the new M-DAC Plus. Can we hope to see here, on Headfonia, a review of yours of this
    new DAC and a direct comparison with V850 during next weeks?
    And in general, for you, which is the best DAC/PREAMP (I don’t care about headphones AMP) today for 1300E?
    Thank you so much for all your hard work, that means a lot for me. You have become my warranty.

  • Reply October 7, 2016

    Wonder Chiu

    How do you find the new SPL Phonitor e? seems to have a very good p/c ratio. what headphones are the SPL guys paring them with?

    also the rme adi-2, does it have enough power to drive fullsize headphones?

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