Hey, what’s cracking everyone—this was my 7th CanJam (and my 3rd SoCal), and I’m gonna be real with you: I didn’t walk away with a mountain of deep listening notes this time. My kids were sick a couple weeks before the show, I caught the cold, and after the flight my left ear straight up wouldn’t pop. Kinda hard to do “critical listening” when one of your instruments is busted, so day one turned into more of a photo/video + meeting friends vibe (elbow bumps only, because I’m not trying to get anybody sick). Sunday I felt good enough to actually sit down and listen. Highlights for me: ETA’s new Ulie (ULI) was a banger—HD800S lovers should absolutely pay attention because it’s got that big stage/resolution but with real slam and bass. Schiit surprised me with a Jotunheim 3 preview, and it drove the Tungsten V2 noticeably easier than V1. Campfire’s Andromeda 10 impressed me (dark-ish treble but still detailed), while Grand Luna was just too dark on my DC Elite. I also hit FlipEars’ new Arion prototypes (I preferred the “gold” tuning), APOS’ Rock Lobster IEM, the K1000 homage (wild speaker-like fun), ZMF’s new Cayin HA-6A Mk II (effortless), and wrapped with quick impressions on Yamaha, Final’s DX30000 closed-back, Hercules Audio Noah, and Fosi’s IM4/i5 updates.