CanJam London 2015 is coming!
North America’s premier headphone audio event is coming to the UK for the first time this summer...
CanJam London 2015, the first of Head-Fi’s official CanJam events to be held in Europe, will take place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August 2015, bringing together the world’s best names in high-quality headphone design.
With dozens of exhibitors including Audio-Technica, Astell & Kern, Chord, KEF, Sennheiser, Soul and V-Moda exhibiting their latest and greatest products, the two-day event promises to be a mecca for music fans looking to indulge their passion for top-notch sound quality, engineering, design and innovation.
And it’s not just about the new products: also on show will be exclusive DIY builds, out-of- production vintage gear and one-of-a-kind rigs, all thanks to the Member Showcase.
Since the very first US CanJam, its organisers have encouraged members of the Head-Fi community to exhibit their rare headphones and personal audio equipment, becoming stars of the show in their own right, not to mention getting free admission in return for showing off their wonderful kit.
Your mind can get a workout along with your ears, too. Head-Fi’s website has always been a virtual space for personal audio enthusiasts to delve into the technology and history behind headphones, and CanJam London 2015 is translating that philosophy into the real world through a special series of live presentations and discussion panels with leading industry experts.
As music services such as Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify grab the public’s attention alongside the growth of High-Res music (and vinyl!), headphones have never been more important to music fans.
Attendees will have the opportunity to bag a coveted prize though a Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway. Always a big part of past CanJam events, the hunt will introduce show-goers to a range of gear as it tasks them to move around the show – and at the end of it all there’ll be a chance to win something very special.
CanJam London 2015 will be held in the historic Hotel Russell, 1-8 Russell Square, London WC1B 5BE from 9.00am to 6.00pm on 29th and 30th August. Tickets can be purchased in advance from Eventbrite (£15 for one day, £25 for the weekend) as well as on the door (at a £5 surcharge), while children 12 and under enter free if accompanied by an adult ticket holder.
Q/A with team CanJam...
The headphone market has exploded over the last few years - what factors are driving this?
And that explosive growth is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Headphones (over-ear and in- ear) are at the very heart of an irreversible trend, with personal audio gear becoming how most people consume their music today. The three main factors driving this trend are both societal and global in scale.
Mobility: In a way that even Sony’s Walkman and Apple’s iPods could not, smartphones are revolutionising our ability to enjoy audio on-the-go. Our phones aren’t just phones anymore – they’ve become our primary hubs of all communication, navigation, entertainment, and more. We need them, so we carry them at all times, which also means that we can all have a vast music library with us at all times. What’s the best way to tap into the sound and music that comes from all of that? Headphones, of course.
Lifestyle: As people choose to get married, start families and/or purchase homes - increasingly later in life - it is often times impractical to indulge in a proper and traditional hi-fi system with speakers. Not having an abundance of leisure time, living in a flat, or having young children, severely restricts the enjoyment of a loudspeaker setup. As a result, consumers are turning towards high-quality personal audio gear as a viable substitute, with many finding better sound than they ever knew possible.
Technology: There was a time, not too long ago, when good-sounding headphones were more challenging to find. However, thanks to sites like Head-Fi.org, millions of personal audio enthusiasts have been able to band together, proving there is a sizable need for better- performing headphones and headphone-related gear. Seeing this, manufacturers the world over, both established and start-up, have responded with a dizzying number of performance innovations.
Currently, a top-tier personal audio system can rival an elite hi-fi system’s performance at a fraction of the cost.
Headphones - are they now fashion, hi-fi, or a combination of both?
Increasingly both. In the past, good looks and good sound were almost mutually exclusive. These days, leading manufacturers are keen in understanding that consumers have become smarter, more knowledgeable, and more discriminating. At Head-Fi.org, we’re seeing that today’s smarter consumers demand both better sound quality and better aesthetics, and manufacturers are rising to the challenge. Fashion brands like V-MODA and Master & Dynamic are consistently putting out very good product from a sound quality perspective. Traditional high-end headphone brands like Sennheiser and beyerdynamic are releasing more lifestyle- oriented headphones. And companies like Sony and Philips - having long straddled the either/or line between consumer and hi-fi audio - are also adjusting their offerings in response.
As headphones can be among the most visible items a person wears, consumers will increasingly demand that their excellent sounding headphones look good, too.
Why is CanJam happening in London now?
Smaller get-togethers - often called Head-Fi meets - have been organised on Head-Fi.org since its founding in 2001. They’ve become so common that on any given weekend there’s probably a Head-Fi meet somewhere in the world, and often several.
In 2006, a team of Head-Fi community members in New York created the first international-level Head-Fi multi-day event with attendees and exhibitors, and the tradition continued. In the years following New York were San Jose, Fort Lauderdale (where it was first named “CanJam” in 2008), Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver (at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest annually since 2009), and Southern California.
Why London? A great deal of Head-Fi’s community comes from the UK. For many years, there has been a rich tradition of Head-Fi meets, big and small, in the UK, including a couple in Central London. We attended an independently organised by Head-Fi Meet at the Russell Hotel in 2013, and we had so much fun at that event. When it came time to look beyond the U.S. for CanJam, London was the first city to come to mind; and when we found out the Russell Hotel had enough space for a CanJam, we knew we had to start there with CanJam London 2015.
Do you think most people now realise that the smartphone headphones they get with the smartphone aren't the greatest?
Yes, most definitely!
Let’s not forget that one of the largest brands in the premium headphone space - Apple’s Beats by Dre - is essentially an aftermarket accessory company. Beats headphones aren’t included with smartphones after all. So Beats’ success is but a small indicator that music lovers are not satisfied with a smartphone’s “come-with-its” or included accessories. The real question is “How much better can I get for my money?” That is for each person to decide for himself, of course. But at events like CanJam London 2015, we aim to bring together the very best in personal audio, in one place, so that everyone can hear gear they might not otherwise have a chance to, and to help them find what they were looking for, even if they didn’t know they were looking for it beforehand!
Where do you stand on high-res music - will it become the standard by default or will it remain the preserve of audiophiles?
The demand for hi-res audio – that is, recordings with better than CD-quality, and the gear to play it – is still greatest among high-end audio enthusiasts. Some demand hi-res, others are quite content with CD-quality, and still others will choose the convenience of high-bitrate lossy streaming services like Spotify. Preferences truly run the gamut right now.
Currently, we’re finding a growing number of both audiophiles and savvy consumers embracing a sensible middle ground with lossless streaming services like TIDAL, WiMP and Qobuz. And there are still many around the world who prefer collecting, archiving, and playing their music with physical media.
In light of all of this, we’re excited to see well-known brands like Sony and Audio-Technica developing hi-res-capable playback products – including “Hi-Res Audio” designations and branding – which is helping hi-res audio gain awareness and momentum. The recording industry is also giving it more attention, which is critical, as hi-res audio means little if you’ve got a bad recording to start with. The hi-res audio push seems to be happening in earnest on all both sides--content creation, software, and hardware.
About Head-Fi
Head-Fi.org is the web’s headphone headquarters – the premier destination for anyone who’s passionate about premium personal audio. With discussion forums covering everything from affordable earbuds to custom desktop rigs worth thousands of pounds, it’s the place online if you want to learn more about personal audio.
About CanJam SoCal
CanJam SoCal 2015 brought well over one thousand personal audio enthusiasts for two days in March, making it North America’s biggest and best standalone headphone show. With scores of high-end headphone manufacturers showing off their latest and greatest wares alongside live events and industry insider talks, it was a logical progression to bring it to Europe next – and CanJam London is the result.
PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING LINK ON ALL COVERAGE: http://london.canjam.org
Press can register for passes via the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/CanJamLondonPress
Chord, Hi-Fi+, and Sennheiser are official sponsors of CanJam London 2015
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