Setup Day – CanJam SoCal 2019

The Irvine Marriot has a good setup for a headphone show. A large open convention space surrounded by an old western wagon circle of smaller, private listening rooms makes for a good defense against any bright, sunny Los Angeles days.

Sunny days in LA are easy to come by however, and large collections of headphone demos are not. Ripe with product releases deep into personal audio, CanJam SoCal 2019 fires up this weekend with a fervor. Setup day differs slightly from your run-of-the-mill two channel show as operational hours grace only Saturday and Sunday for the event. Another big bonus for most headphone manufacturers is a significantly shorter setup timeline and lack of need for room fine tuning.

The lion’s share of Audio-Head’s coverage will come courtesy of the prolific Eric Franklin Shook, who you may remember from such show coverage as AXPONA and the most recent T.H.E. Show 2019. I leave you all in his extremely capable hands while I spend my hours conversing in the hall utility closet gathering interviews for The Occasional Podcast Season 3.

Things were buzzing before the show started, with significant releases prepping in the field of IEMs, headphones and amps. The event even promises a visit from long absent Grado headphone maker out of New York. Other highlights include a make-your-own amp from Schiit Audio (along with a 20% discount, labor’s on you!), absolutely huge Focal headphone display, a True Wireless IEM entry from HiFiMAN and a killer A/B display courtesy of Periodic Audio.

It’s a giant candy store for any headphone-loving audiophile, and things are still just heating up. Show Coverage: Audio-Head