All the love in this forum and general discussion makes me one happy camper - thanks to everyone who’s contributed so much so far, you guys are Gs 
I wanted to highlight my entire CanJam experience here if I may - I don’t think I’ve seen someone write up their front to back experience at one of these shows and I know that this would of helped me tremendously because going into it blind for whatever reason gave me anxiety and I’m not an anxious person in the slightest. I think going into any situation not knowing what to expect, surrounded by strangers in a small room in a city you’re not entire comfortable with is a recipe for disaster. Not to mention those strangers happen to be some of the most scrutinizing human beings on the planet - Audiophiiiilesss
So here it goes;
My entire CanJam NYC 2023 Experience
First off, the planning. NYC is a big city, there are so many hotels to choose from and this is always the first step for my family and I - finding the right hotel. We chose a place called “The Pod - Times Square”. We’ve stayed there twice before so admittedly, we chose a more comfortable option. It’s also damn affordable for being in the heart of Mid Town. Right on W 42nd street, in between 9th and 10th Ave, it was quite literally 6 blocks away from the Hotel where CanJam was being held. My first piece of advice if you ever decide to go to something like this and it’s not in your home city and you have to travel is find somewhere that fits your budget first and foremost but also make sure that place is comfortable. If it’s familiar, all the better.
After finding the hotel, and having that secured, buying the tickets. This part couldn’t have been easier. You buy the tickets from a link over on Head-Fi, it takes you to a specific CanJam website and once you buy the tickets, it gives you an email with QR codes they scan at the front desk before you walk into the actual door of the showroom so this part couldn’t have been easier. I appreciated the simplicity of this step no doubt. My second top gear top tip, is go for both days of the weekend. 1 day is just not enough. I decided to go on the quieter day of Sunday and I got there right at opening, and I still didn’t have time to try 20% of what was there, let alone my own small short list that I put at the top of this thread. So yes, both days. It’s only $10 more, it’s worth it. Trust me.
Once that’s all squared away, you get to the hotel or convention space where CanJam is actually being held, digital tickets all good, they’ve been scanned, you get the highlighter green Headphones.com branded wrist band, you check your jacket in (if you’re on the East Coast) and you get your tips all ready to go - you’re ready.
The space is overwhelming at first.
Being NYC, there was already loads of people there, at tables, bolted down chairs & with their favorite Cans on their greasy audiophile heads so another top tip, get there early. At first I didn’t really know the protocol, so I walked around aimlessly at first, looking at all the tables, what there was, all the rooms off to the side, just to get a sense of the space and where I was. I didn’t have much of a plan going in which was a mistake, but we all learn through experience after all. Next time, I’ll take a look at the layout usually provided by Head-fi prior to the actual event, and plan which tables I’d like to visit so I can have some form of organization - I think this is absolutely necessary if you want to hit a few specific spots. After I walked around a bit, I told my wife “I have no idea where to start” and she agreed - it was a lot. So what did I do? Found the first table that was empty, with the vendor just kind of standing there awkwardly- it was MusicTeck. They had the Maestro SE and the Brise cables there along with a pair of Traillii (which some dude was literally making sweet love to for about the better part of what seemed like forever). It was cool, the rep didn’t know much English but he was a nice guy - showed me all the Brise cables he had - but I don’t even think he knew about the products which I thought was funny 
regardless - it was a good place to start. Got my footing, had my sling bag ready with all my tips and cables and IEMs to take out quickly - another top tip get some kind of sling bag that you can wear in front of you, with your own tips and cables if you ever need to get them quickly. The vendors do provide new tips for you to use, which is very cool, but usually they’re just some stock crap tips they have bulk of - in this particular case, the gentleman had some stock UM tips that I think come with the MEST series. These aren’t great - so after that first experience, I just used the Azla Crystals from that point forward. Another top tip lots of the vendors had their own sources on the tables for anyone to use, mostly DAPs. What I’m saying is, even if you went in there empty handed, you’re covered with just about anything you’d need to listen to music and demo gear - I didn’t expect this, so I thought that was dope. Some of us don’t have sources or DAPs just laying around to bring with us so it was comforting to know I would of been covered regardless. I still used the BTR7 for the majority of my listening just because I’m familiar with the device. Just make sure you charge your batteries if you have a source that uses its own power supply!
After my first interaction with a vendor at a table, it definitely became a lot easier to then go up to more tables and be confident in trying things out. I learned that even if all the chairs are taken at a particular table, you can still ask the vendor if they’re available if they have a particular IEM available - example, the 64 Audio table was filled every time I walked by, but I finally just went up to the vendor directly and just asked if he had a pair of U12ts available and he did. I would of never known and probably left without trying anything from 64 if I hadn’t just asked. All of the vendors I encountered that day were all super cool and easy to talk to as well. A lot of them even asked what my impressions were of the IEMs after I tried them which I felt was my favorite part of the entire day. I found my self conversing with the vendors longer than actually listening to the phones’ themselves - at the end of the day, I realized that they’re not just vendors who are there collecting a pay check, they’re also audiophiles like the rest of us. I remember distinctly being in the Bloom Audio room with a few really cool dudes from Bloom and we all had a cool discussion about crazy expensive cables and a pair of Vision Ears they had, I believe it was a special edition version of the Pheonix? I didn’t write about it in my longer post because after about 20 seconds, I knew they just weren’t my thing. Too much treble, too much energy in the upper mids and I dismissed them quickly after pressing play - afterwards, I told the guys my experience & one of em was like “alright, I have to try them now” and he pulled out his personal DAP and started to actually listen to them - it was just really cool, man. After he was done with his impressions, we all went back and forth on what we thought of them.
The environment was absolutely stellar once I got comfortable and a big part of that were the vendors.
After my visit to Bloom, I went into the ZMF room and just … Jesus Christ, I wish I took more pictures because ZMF brought what looked like everything they currently had in stock - wow. My mind was completely blown. So many beauties, so little time … anyways, I wanted to try the Caldera first and foremost to check it off my little list but there wasn’t a DAC/amp stack available besides one amp that wasn’t being used - unfortunately, you needed either a full-sized DAC or DAP to use it - so instead of just waiting around for someone to give up their chair, one of the guys from ZMF (I suck, I forget all their names which really kills me) literally let me use his personal Hiby for the time being to try out the Caldera. The amount of trust and camaraderie was absolutely outstanding. I listened to the Caldera, it blew my mind of course and then afterwards I met the dude that makes all of their cables by hand & talked about the process of cable making, that was really interesting. Then, I spoke to a gentleman that was part more so of the marketing team, and we were just shootin’ the shit, man - he told me he’s a guitar player and what he values most about headphones and for a moment, we were just two audio dudes connecting - it was dope. One of my highlights of the day no doubt.
After that, I walked out of the ZMF room, saw Crin walking alone in the middle of the showroom, looking lost - we made eye contact, I kind of freaked for whatever reason and pretended I didn’t know who he was and walked the opposite way - I think back on this moment and I laugh to my self, honestly 
I wish I took more pics with some of the YouTubers I saw there. But of course I saw the rest of the crew there as well, Crin, Zeos, DMS, Resolve & Cronos. One thing I did forget to mention, while in the Bloom audio room, I was listening the EXTs - out of the corner of my eye I see …. Like … this… poll? With a mic wrapped around the end of it being stuck into one of the Bloom audio guys faces so Of course, naturally, I turn around and look at this guy interviewing people and who do I see? Some heavy set dude with a T-shirt on, go-pro strapped to his forehead … so after he leaves the room I take the EXTs out of my ears and I turn to the Bloom guys and say, “I don’t even have to ask right? That was Z I assume?” And they all laughed and said “yeah, I could happily avoid that guy…” 
oh man. Weird weird weird.
My wife also told me that Z came up to my wife and my son at some point, while they were chilling on the side of the showroom floor, and asked if they were okay. I think my son was beginning his shenanigans, and my wife probably looked visibly stressed out as she did when her and I met up - I thought that was cool of him. She said he was genuinely just making sure they were okay and comfortable. Okay, Z - you get kudos for that one.
Alright, time to wrap this thing up. Highlights of the day of course were the Cans and IEMs but the real superstars were the Vendors and the people I met - all killer dudes, seriously. Made the experience so much better and much more comfortable and easy to digest. Cronos was a cool dude, I told him I enjoyed his videos even though he roasted the Monarch MKII and he had a laugh. @shuoer (Joseph) is the man, he was a super nice guy, made time to talk to me, told me some off the record stuff about the OG EJ07 that I can’t disclose (is that an NDA? ) and I had an overall great time.
I’m probably forgetting a lot, but I think I made good time here.
This went incredibly long, and I’ve been meaning to write this since Sunday so I hope you guys don’t kill me for dumping all of this and if not, I hope you enjoyed it! I also hope that if any of you decide to attend a CanJam and if you’re like me, had any nerves about going, this helps a little with prep and knowing what to expect - it’s an unnatural experience, CanJam. You pay $40 to get admission to this wonderland of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio gear and it’s all at your finger tips. It didn’t matter the cost of any of the equipment, it was all in the open for anyone to use, regardless of how you looked or how much money you had in your pocket or what your daily IEM was - it’s an amazing experience and I implore all of my brothers on here to give it a shot one day.
Thanks for everything, Gents - have a fantastic day
Photo dump of the fam in NYC 
Me with my vintage 1972 Bruins Stanley Cup hat … underneath my jacket btw is a mint condition 04’ Red Sox World Series championship shirt … been waiting to wear that one so I thought going to NYC was the perfect place to actually break it in 
But honestly though, I genuinely appreciate all the support from everyone. Seriously 
Gives me the strength to keep going 
2 videos coming right up for J next week 
…Me and the missus had tickets for the 2020 London CanJam and then you know what happened so they rolled it over to 21 which again got cancelled 
I think they did have a 2022 one but they’d stopped emailing with updates…So CANJAM you owe us a couple of fricking tickets!
