Our coverage of the latest in personal audio starts the holiday buying season off with the local headphone event called CanJam SoCal 2025. Located in Orange County, the two day meet-up features some of the newest offerings from HiFi head-makers including several brands that make some of the best headphones currently on the market. The show takes things a bit further by going surprisingly bigger for headphone amplifiers and even the high-growth category of wired In-Ears.
Noble Audio had three new audio entries into the top of the heap, including the $4.5k KRONOS with a 6-way design that incorporates two dynamic drivers for bass, a dual‑membrane bone conductor driver, four BA drivers from Knowles and two electrostatic drivers from Sonion. That is quite a package for a tiny little IEM that fits still fits in your ear. Also on display was the $700 Van Gogh with one dynamic for bass, two Sonion BAs and one Knowles BA driver. The last new piece was actually a wireless option called the NOBLE AUDIO FoKus AMADEUS True Wireless for $320. You can see our full review of the AMADEUS here!
Budget-friendly favorite Schitt Audio also had much of their product line on active to display to listen to at the show. Sourced from tablets and pushing a wide variety of their fairly deep list of DAC options, the demonstration tables are usually packed with listeners during working hours. The price range follows a predictable size difference in the component’s footprint for each tier, so creating a stacked group of “separates” is easy (and somewhat unique for this price point). Featured at the event was everything from the new Schiit Valhalla 3 tube headphone amplifier at $500 to the flagship DAC Yggdrasil starting at $2,299. You can find our latest review of their Gungnir 2 DAC in our roundup of the latest loudspeaker package offering dubbed the Gigastack.
Woo Audio out of New York also had a great cross section of their products on display in a private room off of the main convention hall. Sporting some of their latest high-end gear, the new WA24 tube 20th anniversary amplifier (starting at $13k) has its own custom tube design (neither a 300b or KT88 variant). The WA24 keeps some of the new design elements that started with the WA23 Luna a few years ago for an updated look across the isle from the more industrial-forward looks of their early (and some less expensive) models.
The YouTuber that goes by the name GoldenSound online was featuring a new streamer in partnership with JDS Labs. The relatively “budget” option should launch at around the $300 mark according to this interview, and pack quite a punch, if you are to believe the ears of this GoldenSound gent. He has garnered quite a following on the platform and has previously partnered with other DAC manufacturers for some GoldenSound “editions”. The new DAC represents the latest direction in terms of partnerships and pricepoint for the GS-shared branding.
There is a new small-batch headphone maker out of Long Beach called Auribus Acoustics that has a new headphone prepping for launch. The new Sierra Open starts at around $1200 but is highly customizable on many fronts. From the sounds of this interview, the company appears to be fairly lenient with the cosmetic options (and many even some structural ones).
Wiremaker VikingWeave cables is launching a new headphone under the brand Viking Audioforge. The first headphone will be the Draupnir and features not one but TWO dynamic drivers per ear. The unique design was a standout at the show and it will be fairly exciting to see if the new implementation pans out or if its pushes too hard into the realm of a gimmick (at least in headphone terms).
YouTuber ZEOS (known for his improvised headphone reviews at Z Reviews) is launching a new headphone of his own. His second headphone (along with a few more collaborations across other product categories) is called the Serene. Much of the video from CanJam SoCal 2025 is actually spent talking about his first collaboration called the Eris which has been plagued by some supply issues after its initial launch. Both come in at relatively entry-level pricepoints at less than $400.
The last bit of news coming out of Irvine was the latest from the long-running headphone amplifier-maker HeadAmp. The cfa3 and its corresponding variants look impressive along with its thought out list of features and new and old technologies. Starting at $4k for the launch price, the cfa3 can be outfitted with a custom motorized volume control by Eksonic, upgraded power supplies and other options. It looks to be a very intriguing product for the die hard enthusiast/tweaker.
Hosting the YouTube videos for pt.AUDIO at CanJam SoCal 2025 was Zach Mehrbach of ZMF Headphones. His newest headphone is the Ori 3.0 which is made of some of the same bespoke woods he has become known for, also available for demo at the event.
