A Survival Guide to Your First Audio Show

Introduction

It’s your first audio show and you’re feeling a little nervous - that’s totally normal! I was in the same boat at my first audio show, CanJam SoCal 2021. And over the course of subsequent audio shows, I’ve worked the booths, covered the floor as a reviewer, and bounced around with friends as a showgoer.

CanJam SoCal 2022

Basically, I have some experience under my belt at this point. And sure, I’ve had a blast at every single show, but I’ve continued to learn new lessons about maximizing the experience each time. So in this article, I’m going to break down everything I wish I knew when I went to my first audio show.

What to Bring

Let’s start from the basics.

I always carry a small container of ear tips with me on the show floor.

A lot of booths will have ear tips available, but this isn’t always the case (especially if you need a particular size). Ear tips can also have an effect on the sound of IEMs, so it’s a good idea to have some of your own on hand.

Not all booths will have a way for you to plug in your phone and listen to your own music, so I highly recommend bringing your own source (such as an Apple dongle). If you don’t bring your own source, most booths will have their own source equipment and music available. But it’s a good idea to have your own tools on-hand because it’s difficult to get an accurate impression listening to music that you’re not familiar with.

In my experience, booths also often forget to bring standard 3.5mm cables or are missing conversions from balanced. DAPs are a great piece of equipment for shows, as they usually have multiple terminations (such as for balanced cables). But if you decide to use your phone and a dongle, I highly recommend bringing a power bank just in case. Whether you bring a phone or DAP, I also recommend having your music downloaded, as WiFi and cellular connections can be finicky on the show floor.

Additionally, Fc-Construct did a great YouTube short that also covers this topic, so definitely give that a quick look to get even more advice. 

Watch the video

Moving on: Here are some more “advanced” tips.

You’ll probably be hearing a lot of gear on the show floor, and it’s common for your ears to get fatigued if you’re not used to hearing so many things at once. For a lot of listeners, things can start sounding like they’re blending together. It can help to bring a reference IEM that has a sound signature that you’re very familiar with. Not only is it useful for A/B comparisons, but it also can act as a ‘palette cleanser’ for the ears that’ll reset your baseline to some degree.

Moondrop Variations

As an example, my usual go-to set for shows is the Moondrop Variations. Why do I normally use this set? It has ‘standard’ features like an elevated 3kHz pinna notch and sharply tucked sub-bass shelf and, outside of these features, a flat frequency response. This allows me to quickly gauge where another IEM might diverge in terms of frequency response by comparison.

Having a playlist of test tracks at the ready is also a good idea. There will often be lines for the booths, and it might feel like you’re on the clock when other people are waiting for you to finish listening. In the interest of respecting others’ time, and getting the most accurate impressions, definitely have a few tracks at the ready that you can reference.

I’ve been asked how I’m able to hear so many IEMs at a show, possibly because there’s also a common misconception that one needs to spend hours listening to an IEM to form an opinion. But basically, a combination of having a reference IEM and a test track playlist is how I usually manage to cover so many IEMs in my show reports. It doesn’t hurt that I’m also pretty deliberate about the gear that I choose to listen to!

Which CanJam Should I Go To?

Some may not know this, but CanJam is actually a worldwide event, having multiple stops on 3 continents that span the entire year. Which raises the question: "Which one should I go to?"

CanJam SoCal and CanJam NYC tend to be the biggest shows in North America, both in terms of foot traffic as well as exhibitors. Most manufacturers will wait for these shows when it comes to announcing new products, so if you want to ride the hype of new releases, SoCal and NYC are great for that!

Additionally, SoCal and NYC tend to be the shows that every brand makes a point to visit. For the smaller shows, it can be a little less realistic for a brand to have a table since the foot traffic is much slower... but for SoCal and NYC, almost every brand will try to have a booth there, which means the widest variety of gear to try.

What booth(s) should I visit?

Ultimately that's up to you! However, larger booths for retailers—like Headphones.com, for example—tend to have a variety of brands and types of products, whereas other booths might only have, for example, only IEMs from only one or two specific brands, or only one brand's DACs with a single brand of headphones to test with.

Visiting the booths that have a ton of different products from a ton of different brands can be a big time-saver when you're trying to best organize your plan of attack to hear as many things as possible. So I'd encourage anyone coming to the show looking to maximize listening time and minimize choice paralysis to stop by the Headphones.com booth, because we'll likely have at least one or two items on your "must hear" list.

So what’s worth listening to?

The show floor can be a hectic environment with distractions that can distort your listening impressions. Confirmation bias is also amplified because you’re hearing things for the first time and you’ll be talking with others. For example, you’ll often be asked “So what do you think?” or “Sounds pretty good, right?” when you don't like what you heard but don’t want to offend anyone.

As someone who’s been behind the booth and posed the first question, I always appreciate when I get an honest response even if someone doesn’t like what they heard. After all, the goal is to produce better sounding products and listening experiences, and that’s not possible if everyone likes everything. Of course, there’s a big difference between saying “Wow, this sounds like trash” and “Honestly, this wasn’t my thing because”. My other go-to is usually “I prefer this one more than this one because”.

In any case, my best listening experiences - what I’d consider to be most accurate to what I’d hear in normal conditions - are dictated by the amount of variables that can be controlled. This results in a natural hierarchy between transducers:

• Speakers are notoriously difficult to assess, as their sound is highly contingent on the room itself. Additionally, speakers are often listened to by multiple people at a time, so you’re rarely afforded a choice of music you’re familiar with.
• Open-back headphones let all the sound from the show floor in, so you’ll naturally want to listen louder than normal to compensate. This can distort your listening impressions because sound is more exciting at louder volumes. Closed-back headphones can help negate some external noise, but headphones in general are still reasonably contingent on positioning, pads, and source equipment.
• I tend to have the most consistent impressions with IEMs. They naturally eliminate a lot of noise and achieving a good seal is a yes/no factor with experience. They’re readily powered by basic sources and you can bring your own ear tips.

In my opinion, listening to source equipment is difficult to justify at audio shows. The differences that you will hear with source equipment are usually quite small to begin with and you’ll be subject to stronger (confirmation) bias on the show floor. Compound this with the variability of the headphones/IEMs themselves and you have a recipe for questionable impressions.

Don't buy the first thing you hear. 

Naturally, as I alluded to above, shows are hectic, charged environments where your listening judgement can be easily influenced. This is especially true if you're someone who's newer to the hobby or if you haven't heard as many IEM/headphones. 

My recommendation is that if you like something make sure to give it multiple listens at different points in time. Bounce back after hearing a few more sets, or come back the next day. Another way to narrow down the process of whether something is worthy of purchase is by, of course, bringing your own sets for direct comparison. 

Something else that I personally do is take notes! For me, it's as simple as having a sheet in my iPhone's Notes app with several bullet points for each IEM that I hear. Audible memory is notoriously poor and I absolutely need something to prime my memory each time I write impressions about the IEMs that I hear.  

What time to go?

The opening day of shows will always be the busiest; you can expect hordes of excited showgoers and packed booths. If this isn’t your thing, I’d recommend marking your visit for the second or third day of a show when things tend to have cooled down. In general, afternoons also tend to be slower, as people are leaving to go to lunch or dinner.

Setting up the booths and the calm before the storm.

Show Discounts

And if you wait till the very end of the show, watch out for booths clearing out their demo units at a discount! Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to ask either. This is pretty common to see, as it’s a lot of work shipping or bringing gear to the show for booths. In general, you can also expect small-to-medium discounts on gear purchased at shows depending on the booth.

Taking Measurements

While it can be exciting to measure new gear, shows aren’t the best environment for this. This comes down to 1) the environment being quite loud, 2) others waiting to listen, and 3) some manufacturers preferring their gear not be measured. I have taken measurements at shows, but it’s always with explicit permission and when a booth is not crowded, or with someone else’s personal unit. Ultimately, I’ve never felt like I was missing out when I left my measurement gear at home.

Sightseeing

As I mentioned earlier, it’s easy to get burned out at audio shows, especially when you’re hearing so many things in a short period of time. That in mind, shows are also a great opportunity to do some sightseeing on the side! A lot of shows are based in urban hotspots, so you can usually find plenty of great restaurants and shops nearby.

One of my fondest travel memories is traveling to Singapore for CanJam. It was my first solo trip - and my first trip to Singapore - and I had a blast checking out restaurants and meeting new people. You can check out that article here if you’re interested.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve never attended an audio show before, and you consider yourself an audiophile, it’s definitely something you don’t want to miss. Shows are gathering points for Discord communities, forum communities, and friend groups, all brought together by their love of audio. Plus, if you’re going solo, you don’t have anything to worry about either because you’re not alone - and there’s always plenty to see both at the show and in the area.

If you’re not able to make it to your next audio show, feel free to start the discussion below on either our forum or on our Discord server where you'll find like-minded enthusiasts. Thanks for reading and supporting the site!