CanJam NYC 2018 Show Report
Show Report By Dave Hanson

Amplifiers

Cayin
One of the products I was most excited to hear at CanJam NYC was Cayin's new HA-300 amplifier ($3,999). The 300B is one of my favorite tubes for it's massive staging, effortless dynamics and glorious midrange. Cayin employed some interesting engineering here using a classic 6SN7 + 300B push-pull design and then feeding it to specially made dual output transformers for single-ended and balanced output.

The Cayin HA-300 also includes a separate outboard power supply, using four 22DE4 rectifiers and a custom-built toroidal transformer to provide a steady stream of squeaky-clean power with minimal interference. The HA-300 drives both headphones and speakers, providing up to 5 Watts for your most power-hungry headphones and 8W of tube magic for sensitive speakers. It also offers selectable impedance matching to achieve optimal synergy with your favorite headphones.

Now onto the best part: the sound. While many 300B amps have a bit of hum, the Cayin HA-300 was stunningly silent thanks to the cleverly designed transformers and outboard power supply. Listening first on the HiFiMAN Susvara, dynamics were wide-open with a big walloping sense of slam. The sound was very airy and open with fantastic depth projection, layering and transparency. Listening next on the Focal Utopia with the DanaCable Lazuli Reference cable, I found the Cayin HA-300 offered perfect synergy. Tonal balance on this setup was among the best I've heard, period. Timbre was absolutely spot-on and details emerged effortlessly even at low volumes. The music was just full-of-life, and it was one of those listening sessions I know will stick with me for a long time. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from this amp in the future.

Woo Audio
Woo Audio brought their diverse lineup of amplifiers and set up in a quiet side room with STAX. Sitting in the center of the spotlight was the flagship WA33 ($7,999) and the all-new electrostatic flagship, their prototype 3ES ($8,999) seen here.

The new 3ES dovetails off the design enhancements made during the development of the WA-33 to provide a startlingly detailed and emotionally riveting sound. Unfortunately, the 3ES at the show had some technical issues and developed a noticeable channel imbalance, so while I could tell that the tonality and resolution were phenomenal, it was hard to judge most of the sonic aspects of the amplifier. Still, what I heard was very promising, and I'll be looking forward to hearing more of this one at CanJam SoCal in April.

Wells Audio
When you want big time power and dynamic slam, the Wells Audio booth is always a satisfying stop. This year Wells shared a private room with ModWright instruments, Gingko Audio and DanaCable for a truly high-end experience. Wells came ready to rock with his all-new Headtrip Reference Monoblocks ($30,000) and his new Commander preamp ($3,999).

Unfortunately, not everything went as planned when the Commander was damaged during shipping. The Headtrip Reference Monoblocks were still fully functional however, and were quite impressive paired with the Abyss AB-1266 Phi, offering a big, open, dynamic sound.

Sitting right next to it was the Milo Reference ($5,000), a massively upgraded version of the entry level Milo ($1,699) that uses much of the technology from the Headtrip Reference. For 1/6th of the price of the Headtrip Reference Monoblocks, it was incredible just how close this amplifier got. Listening to Clapton's Unplugged album on the HiFiMAN HE1000 put me right in the audience. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from this one, as it really hit all of the marks in my short time with it.

DanaCable/Gingko Audio
Sharing the room with Wells Audio, the Gingko Audio, ModWright and DanaCable table was a buffet of sonic goodness. One of my favorite listens of the show was the trio of the HiFiMAN Susvara ($5,999) with the new DanaCable Lazuli Ultra ($1,800) running through the ModWright Tryst ($3,000).

The Lazuli Ultra really extracted another level of weight and detail from the already excellent Susvara and the ModWright Tryst projected a nice deep stage taking full advantage of the airy, open sound of the Susvara. This system was super-synergistic, with each component complimenting and enhancing the strengths of the next.

Helping the ultra-clean presentation even further were the Gingko Audio Arches ($299), which have been lauded for their exceptional vibration-damping characteristics. I was so intrigued by the sound improvements of the Lazuli Ultra and the Gingko Arches I borrowed samples from Gingko to test at home with my reference system.

Periodic Audio
It's hard to believe Periodic Audio debuted their lineup of IEMs just a little over a year ago. After shooting out of relative obscurity, the buzz surrounding their booth this year was very strong. I still feel the Periodic Audio Beryllium I reviewed ($299) flagship IEM is one of the top values on the market today.

This year, Periodic brought working prototypes of their soon-to-be launched Nickel portable amplifier ($299), which they teased at last year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. This tiny amp is no larger than a 9V battery, pairing up with your cell phone to provide your favorite IEMs with clean power in the smallest, most convenient package possible.

While I'll admit I was a little taken aback by the $300 price tag on such a tiny little device, the sonic effect was undoubtedly a positive one. Dynamics improved quite noticeably and details emerged much more easily. After A/B testing a bit with my iPhone 6's built-in output I have to say, this little device left me pretty impressed.

iFi Audio
The folks over at iFi Audio have been banging out killer product after killer product for the past couple of years. One of my favorites is the portable Micro iDSD Black Label ($599), which has enough flexibility to drive anything from planars to my most sensitive IEMs and boasts one of the best sounding sub-$1000 DACs around to boot. Given the phenomenal performance of the reasonably priced iDSD Black Label, I was intrigued to hear the upcoming Pro iDSD DAC/AMP ($2,499).

The Pro iDSD comes packed with a predictably comprehensive feature set (just like everything from iFi) with a number of filters, selectable tube and solid state drive options, a four Watt amplifier and much more. It's always hard to judge DACs out on the main show floor, but we're hoping to get this one in-house soon for a full-length review, so stay tuned!

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