Unique Melody & Cayin
This was a shared booth at the Shanghai Show with the team from Unique Melody manning it. Sadly, no Cayin staff were there, but they did scatter the table with their latest creation, the RU9, alongside some of their excellent smaller dongles, such as the RU7.
The RU9 sits somewhere between a dongle and a portable amplifier. To be honest, I would class it as a micro-amp, given it has a built-in battery and its size is bigger than a typical low-profile dongle.
It comes with a 3M MagSafe ring, which seems to indicate that Cayin sees the RU9 as a unit that will ‘piggy-back’ your phone or DAP.
For its size, the RU9 seems pretty feature-rich, including wireless BT LDAC and dual AK4493SEQ decoding support for up to DSD512 and PCM 768kHz.
Of course, the big attraction is those tubes, and if you have used the N3Ultra, then a lot of this is familiar with a NuTube 6P1 output, allowing you to select multiple timbres and a dual operation mode between solid-state and tube.
Tested with the new UM Mest Jet Black, the sound was pitch black, with no noticeable noise, and a very smooth sound signature from the tube output. Have we got it in for review? Yes, for sure.
Another homer from the Shanghai show for a review is a custom version of the popular UM MEST Jet Black, a recently released 4th gen of an IEM that I have covered in custom format since the original MEST in 2020.
This one is a 10-driver single dynamic, 6 BA, dual EST, and two different types of bone conduction drivers: a dual composite and a single piezoelectric alternative. This is perhaps the most complex IEM I have ever encountered outside of PMG Audio’s Apx.
Typically, UM customs sound a little different from their universal cousins, so my brief listening experience yielded an impression of a natural to slightly warm sound signature with a neutral vocal imaging experience, with very good staging depth and height.
The custom fit is perfect, and better than any ANC TWS can achieve for passive noise isolation. The shells are finished to a high quality with some new cable designs to go along with them.
Meze Audio & Auris Audio
James will be dealing with the new Meze Audio 105 Silva, which, to my ears, has a bit more sparkle than the original 105 AER during my brief listening at the CanJam Shanghai show.
My attention was more focused on that huge Auris Audio Headonia 300b headphone amplifier in the middle of the desk in the picture above.
I have this unit at the office and will have a review of it in due course. It is one of the finest, most detailed, yet still natural-sounding headphone tube amplifiers I have heard in years.
It will make almost any headphone sound great, and with 7W of output power, I would include any demanding headphone out there in that description.
Which really should be the case since it costs $12999. It is also quite possibly the biggest headphone amplifier I have had the pleasure of testing.
FiiO
The FiiO booth at CanJam Shanghai 2025 was extremely long. Every year I visit their stands, the table gets wider and wider to fit an ever-expanding range of products that now go well beyond personal audio, such as the TT13 turntable, SA1 speakers, and the massive S15 streamer.
However, the one product that stood out for me on their desktop was the new ‘Warmer”. I think this is the first time FiiO has used a name for their product launch and not a number.
I mentioned to the team that they should try and get a few more named products and fewer numbers, which makes it more memorable and adds a bit of color to the product description.
So, what is the Warmer? In short, it’s a new R2R-based pure DAC with a tube-amplified balanced output. From what I know thus far, the tubes are imported Czech variants, with a strong high-voltage power supply and a classic circuit design.
The retro-styling, complete with VU meters, is in keeping with their K17 aesthetic (and soon to be launched K15), and the tubes are a first for FiiO, whose lineup to date is almost always solid-state.
The sound is very different from what you might be used to from the classic FiiO ‘neutral’ house sound. It’s a lot richer and yes, warmer, and very much a tube-like presentation.
Will we be reviewing it? Yes, James is our FiiO amp guy, so expect a review not long after its international launch. heck, I might buy one myself, but in silver. The black one FiiO brought to Shanghai looks cool, but silver is more retro for me.
Linsoul
Linsoul at CanJam Shanghai 2025 is less of a product report and more of a people thing. It’s the first time I have met the staff from a company that I have worked with for the last 5-6 years, and they are some of the nicest people around with a huge range of Chinese IEMs, headphones, you name it.
Sadly, one of the owners, Lillian, was not there, but Carina (far left) was happy to walk me around what they brought to Shanghai. One of them was the new THIEAUDIO Monarch MKIV, and oh boy, was it a hard one to get for testing, such was the interest from those attending.
This is a dual-dynamic (isobaric), 6BA, 2 EST IEM, with a dual-switch tuning mechanism and a new CNC-milled aluminum alloy shell design. It retails for $1299.
Consistent with the Monarch MKII and MKIII, this is not a reference tuning. The emphasis is on dynamics and a bit of fun, though I never found the tuning to be so colored as to be annoying.
The switches on the side of the shells are primarily bass frequency focused and labeled ‘Standard’ and ‘Rumble’, the latter of which adds 3 dB to the bass shelf to enhance the fundamental frequencies. 3 dB might not seem much, but given the shelf is already +10 dB, it’s enough for my tastes.
HEDD Audio
HEDD Audio was in Shanghai, along with Lake People and Zähl Elektronik-Tontechnik, under the 83 dB distribution brand managed by my old mate Klaus Eulenbach.
This is a guy who has plenty of experience in the Chinese market, so it was no surprise to see him make the trip to Shanghai from Berlin.
On the table were the excellent mid-centric HEDDphone TWO and the warmer, weightier-sounding TWO GT high-end headphones, both of which I have reviewed on Headfonics.
There was an original HEDDphone in the far corner also, all 700g plus of it. Some found this too heavy, but I found the distribution to be ok for my head.
There was one other very secretive headphone not from HEDD, but not much more can be revealed at this stage, as it’s a very early prototype. Look hard enough, and you will see a round cup grill with a single headband design to the far left in the picture.
We have not covered much from the Lake People brand. The last review was of the Reference Series stack from Klaus himself in 2017, so hopefully, we can welcome them back to Headfonics soon.
Ferrum
Good to see Ferrum at CanJam Shanghai 2025. Probably their most important update recently is not so much a new ‘hard product’ but a software enhancement for their excellent WANDLA pure DAC.
This software update is called Ferrum Streaming Control Technology, or FSCT for short, and it is free to download via Ferrum’s updating software platform.
FSCT is an interface between your streamer or streaming music into the DAC, allowing you to display the audio data on the WANDLA screen. It also introduces a measure of playback control via the WANDLA remote control and onboard touchscreen interface.
The update also tweaks the I²S compatibility of WANDLA with more pin configuration options onboard, meaning source devices that might have been incompatible before might now work with the DAC.
It’s a big upgrade, one that I need to spend time with. The results of which I will be writing about, along with some further insight from the Ferrum team over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that.
Jomo Audio
I had a nice, long chat with Joseph during the Shanghai Show. It was his birthday, he had a new MF lens for his Sony FE camera, and he seemed happy.
And why not, since the booth was busy and business seemed to be doing well. He brought several models to CanJam Shanghai 2025, with the Nautilus being his most recent model.
Jomo Audio‘s IEM designs have come a long way since I first reviewed his 6 and 6R a decade ago. Back then, the clockface design was all the rage, and Jomo was one of the early adopters, integrating them into their universal designs.
Now we have some superb intricate mixes with the new Nautilus one shining example with its steampunk aesthetic of 3D grill-type plates and gold-plated brass shells mixed with mother-of-pearl inlays.
Inside, the Nautilus consists of a custom 10mm Nanodiamond-coated DLC diaphragm dynamic driver, a custom 6mm planar, and 2 Sonion bone conduction drivers.
My brief impressions were of a slightly V-shaped tuning profile, excellent bass extension and sub-bass presence, weighty lower mids with good vocal texture, neutral upper mids, and some sparkle in the highs. It sounds detailed, excellent staging performance, and solid imaging.
Final Thoughts
As mentioned at the start, I went to the show in a very different, private capacity. Much of the above is more of a brief impression of some of my personal highlights of Shanghai and CanJam Shanghai 2025.
There were a whole lot more there in terms of brand and people, which I am sure Head-Fi will have covered in detail through the attendee impressions.
But it is the people I wanted to highlight before I close out. Everyone was so welcoming the moment I landed in Shanghai from the airport officials to the hotel staff, clients, factory management, and the show itself, including Jude and Ethan, whom I had a quick chat with before it closed on the final day.
I often think that is what makes a great show, and probably the strongest memories you will take away from the event.
