CanJam London 2026: A Show About How You Want to Listen
CanJam London 2026 is a personal audio event where enthusiasts and manufacturers meet to compare the latest DACs, headphone amplifiers, portable DAP players, and wired and wireless headphones across all price points, highlighting how digital-to-analog conversion, amplification, and different transducer technologies shape the way listeners experience music. The tenth edition filled the Park Plaza Hotel with noticeably more brands and exhibitors than the previous year, and so many new products that even a focused visitor could not hear them all. What stood out was not a single “best headphones DAC” or one ultimate flagship, but a growing insistence on choice: different conversion topologies, form factors, and listening philosophies vying for attention. If you care about how you listen as much as what you listen to, this year’s CanJam said: the future is yours to tune.
FiiO M25 vs M25 R2R: One DAP Platform, Two Ways to Hear Digital
No product captured the show’s spirit of choice more clearly than FiiO’s unreleased M25 and M25 R2R portable DAP players, which were demoed on July 18 and 19, 2026. Rather than another cosmetic refresh, FiiO built two versions of the same upper‑tier player around different DAC architectures: the standard M25 uses AKM’s flagship separated‑DAC system with one AK4191 digital filter and two AK4499EX DACs, while the M25 R2R swaps those chips for FiiO’s second‑generation R2R PRO resistor‑ladder technology. A resistor‑ladder R2R DAC reconstructs analog waveforms using a precisely controlled network of resistors instead of the delta‑sigma approach used by most modern DAC chips. According to the coverage, the tentative global price is approximately USD 1,000 (approx. RM4,600) before tax, but both players remain reference previews with no final specifications, regional pricing, or firm shipping date yet. That lack of detail is a downside, but philosophically this is the most honest portable DAP move of the show: pick your conversion, keep your ergonomics.
The important shift is psychological. High‑end portable DAP players have been drowning in spec wars where buyers chase chip counts and metalwork more than different listening experiences. FiiO is positioning the M25 family below its M27 flagship and above more affordable devices like the M33 R2R and M21, yet instead of fragmenting the line with distinct industrial designs, it keeps one platform and lets DAC preference drive the choice. In practice, that should make A/B comparisons fairer and debates over R2R DAC architecture versus delta‑sigma more grounded in what people hear, not what they assume from data sheets. The catch is that, until shipping units arrive, nobody knows how these two personalities will behave with real libraries and daily use. Still, if every brand treated DAC decisions as user‑selectable rather than marketing‑driven, "best-in-show" would be about sound, not spec sheets.
From Budget Workhorses to All‑in‑Ones: The Standout DACs and Amps
On the desktop side, this CanJam made it clear that the best headphones DAC is not a single device but a spectrum of solutions aimed at different listeners. At the budget end, Fosi Audio’s upcoming ZH1 DAC and headphone amplifier embraces a compact, hexagonal chassis and a pair of Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC chips, with an expected price of around £130. It may not chase ultimate transparency, but its oversized volume knob and customizable lighting feel purpose‑built for gamers and younger listeners who want color and control without breaking the bank. That is the right kind of "budget‑conscious" thinking: admit you are building something fun and accessible, not a studio monitor for the living room.
Higher up, large Class A headphone amplifiers and integrated DAC/amp stacks answered the demand for serious power and versatility. One hulking Aune amplifier weighed about 18 kg and could deliver nearly 12 watts from its balanced output, the sort of overkill that makes sense only if you own stubborn planars and treat your rig as furniture. On the more flexible side, FiiO’s R7 R2R keeps the all‑in‑one formula—a vertical touchscreen, Android streaming, local playback, DAC, preamp, and headphone amplifier—in a compact desktop unit, but swaps the standard ESS ES9068AS delta‑sigma core for an R2R resistor‑ladder stage at around USD 700 (approx. RM3,220). That choice underlines a wider trend: whether you want neutral Class A grunt, gamer‑friendly color, or R2R DAC architecture in a tidy streamer, the show offered a convincing answer. The main downside was design; some costly units north of £2,000 looked unexpectedly cheap despite their serious internals.
Portable DAP Players and the Rise of Hybrid Listening
Moving from desks to pockets, portable DAP players at CanJam London 2026 reflected the same tension between convenience and purist ambitions. FiiO’s M25 family sits in a growing ecosystem of upper‑tier players where buyers spending close to USD 1,000 (approx. RM4,600) expect more than another aluminum slab and oversized volume wheel. The point is no longer to beat streaming phones on raw specs, but to offer meaningfully different listening experiences tied to DAC choice, amplification, and software. Elsewhere on the floor, prototypes like Fosi Audio’s DAP Neo signaled that even budget‑minded brands see value in purpose-built music players rather than relying on smartphones alone. Portable DAC/amp combos, such as the Audma Brioso PHPA1, were strong enough to earn "Best Portable DAC/Amp" honors for their performance and practicality, even when they were the only contender in that specific category.
What matters is that you can now assemble a personal audio chain that crosses formats: stream to an all‑in‑one desktop with R2R DAC architecture, then take a smaller DAC/amp or DAP on the road without losing your preferred sonic character. The downside is choice overload; with many unreleased units and provisional prices like a quoted 3,000 RMB (around USD 450, approx. RM2,070) for one device, it is hard to know what will reach your local market and at what cost. Yet that uncertainty is a healthy sign. Personal audio is becoming a continuum of devices—from tiny dongles to integrated towers—that you tune to your habits instead of bending your habits to one "ultimate" player. If you still think the "best headphones DAC" means one static recommendation, this year’s CanJam proved you are listening to yesterday’s conversation.
Headphones: Wired, Wireless and Electrostatic Fight for Your Ears
If the electronics were about topology, the headphones were about how far manufacturers can push the idea of what "on‑head" listening should feel like. Nearly 30 pairs of cans were auditioned in one report—a snapshot that still did not cover everything on the floor. Axel Grell’s OAE2 refined his Front‑Sided Sound Field Modulation concept with 40 mm bio‑cellulose drivers positioned forward of the ears to create a nearfield loudspeaker‑like presentation, neutral and controlled when properly set up. Wireless designs went beyond the usual ANC template: the écoute TH2 combined hybrid noise cancellation, transparency mode and an eight‑band parametric DSP with a Korg Nutube 6P1 dual‑triode tube in the preamp stage and separate Class A/B amplifiers per channel, plus Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC, AAC, SBC, USB‑C digital and 3.5 mm analog. Its sound—prominent midbass, harmonic warmth, and relaxed ease—felt more like a living‑room rig than a commuter tool, albeit with an ANC performance limited by pad seal issues.
Around these wired and wireless experiments, dedicated systems, including upcoming electrostatic designs, showed that CanJam London 2026 is no longer about ticking technology boxes but about curating listening experiences for specific moods and environments. The amoenus externus underlined this by offering software‑based spatial processing for stereo headphone listening instead of "another" pair of drivers. It uses a universal HRTF and nine short delays to reproduce timing cues from the head and outer ear, trying to move images out of the head without fake reverb. That breadth—from tube‑powered wireless ANC with imperfect ergonomics to forward‑driver open‑backs and algorithmic spatialization—shows why the term "best headphones" has become almost meaningless on its own. What you should be asking after a show like this is: which headphones, DACs and headphone amplifiers make sense together for the way you listen, whether that is at a desk, on a train, or in front of a dedicated electrostatic stack? The answer, this year, was delightfully plural.
