Author: nao0
Editor: Chen Jiajiao
On June 14-15, 2025, CanJam will be held again in Shanghai, attracting nearly a hundred exhibiting brands, including many international giants and numerous emerging domestic brands. From entry-level affordable headphones to HiFi audio systems, the range covers various categories such as HiFi over-ear headphones, in-ear monitoring headphones, personal audio players, decoding amplifiers, integrated portable players, portable decoding amplifiers, CD players, and turntables, leaving audiophiles dazzled.
As we enter 2025, wireless technology has become an irreversible trend. In the past, the HiFi field insisted on wired connections to ensure sound quality. However, with the leap in Bluetooth encoding technology, the sound quality of wireless transmission is approaching that of wired connections.
High-definition Bluetooth audio codecs such as LDAC, LHDC, and aptX Lossless have significantly narrowed the gap between wireless and wired audio quality, supporting audio transmission up to 24bit/96kHz or even 192kHz. Their high resolution and low latency characteristics make wireless sound quality nearly comparable to wired devices.
More and more high-end headphones or quality-focused headphones are beginning to support Bluetooth wireless technology, such as Sennheiser’s classic model MOMENTUM 4 and Beyerdynamic’s earlier released Amiron Wireless. Although these headphones bring high-quality design or HiFi genes into more fields, they still cannot be fully classified as HiFi headphones in the strict sense.
However, at the 2025 CanJam exhibition, FOCAL launched the new wireless active noise-canceling headphones Bathys MG. This headphone is different from previous models as it utilizes the driver technology from its flagship headphones, incorporating the magnesium dome driver from the open-back headphone Clear MG, further enhancing its technical specifications and narrowing the gap between wireless noise-canceling headphones and traditional wired HiFi.
In recent years, traditional HiFi manufacturers have collectively embraced the Bluetooth era, striving to integrate the convenience of wireless and active noise cancellation with high-fidelity sound quality. However, there have been few products that can match traditional HiFi flagship headphones. The emergence of FOCAL Bathys MG undoubtedly signals the future direction of development, where HiFi and wireless may further merge, and high-quality wireless headphones will become the new norm.
In addition to the deep integration of HiFi and wireless, other leading manufacturers are also actively exploring the possibilities or different development directions for future HiFi.
For example, Beyerdynamic, a century-old German audio brand, not only launched consumer-grade headphone products but also brought its professional audio series. During this CanJam exhibition, Beyerdynamic also released the new DT 770 Pro X & DT 990 Pro X, which are positioned for studio monitoring.
In the current headphone market, especially in the field of music production and studio monitoring equipment, the boundary between traditional professional audio products and consumer-grade HiFi headphones has become increasingly blurred. Many professional monitoring headphones, due to their excellent sound quality and durability, have successfully gained favor in the consumer market.
This phenomenon is driven by the unparalleled advantages of professional equipment in sound quality and durability. On the other hand, with technological advancements, more headphones are adopting low-impedance designs, allowing consumers to achieve ideal volume and dynamic range directly through laptops or desktop computers without the need for expensive headphone amplifiers.
Therefore, seeking a point of convergence in the mass market based on professional monitoring genes is undoubtedly an attempt to open up new markets and future development directions.
On the other hand, in terms of driver technology, in addition to dynamic and balanced armature headphones, many headphones using planar magnetic drivers also emerged at the CanJam exhibition.
Not only did domestic brand HIFIMAN and American manufacturer Audeze showcase their flagship models focused on planar driver technology, but another domestic brand, FiiO, also presented its first flagship planar over-ear headphone, the FT7, at this exhibition.
According to public information, this product is equipped with FiiO’s self-developed 106mm ultra-large planar driver, using a diaphragm that is only 1 micron thick, and incorporates a multi-layer coating technology of gold and silver, presenting superior sound quality performance.
FiiOFT7
Of course, in the domestic planar headphone field, self-developed technology is no longer a novelty. HIFIMAN has already launched the Unveiled technology, which adopts an open structure without protective mesh. Traditional open-back headphones usually have a metal or plastic mesh on the outer side of the driver to protect the diaphragm, while the Susvara Unveiled directly eliminates the outer grille, exposing the diaphragm completely to open space, thus eliminating potential sound wave reflections and diffraction interference caused by the mesh.
At the same time, HIFIMAN has even showcased its research and development capabilities in digital audio technology, launching its self-developed Himalaya R2R DAC.
In fact, looking at this year’s CanJam Shanghai exhibition, the collective appearance of domestic audio manufacturers is a striking landscape. Among the nearly a hundred brands exhibiting, the number of Chinese manufacturers occupies a considerable proportion. On one hand, this is due to advantages in manufacturing capabilities and costs.
On the other hand, many domestic brands are closer to local and emerging market user preferences, segmenting their product planning into multiple levels, from high-end flagship to entry-level affordable models, meeting the needs of different groups.
For example, FiiO has boldly launched the “Music Revival” retro product line in recent years, bringing cassette players, portable CD players, and turntables. This cross-border innovative thinking is not commonly seen among international manufacturers, fully showcasing the uniqueness of domestic brands in their concepts.
Overall, the 2025 CanJam Shanghai exhibition not only showcased the latest trends and innovative attempts in the industry but also highlighted the development of domestic audio brands in terms of technology and product richness in the HiFi field. In the future, as technology continues to advance and market demands diversify, domestic audio brands will undoubtedly continue to play an important role in industry innovation.
We look forward to seeing more brands emerge on the global stage, not only breaking through in sound quality, design, and technology but also bringing more stunning innovations in product positioning and personalized user experiences.
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