Archives for November 5, 2018

SMSL M6 DAC/Amp for $130 [MD]

Yet another SMSL product is running at the Massdrop website. For the next two days and change [from posting time here] you can get the new condition modest-looking SMSL M6 DAC/Amp for $130 with free USA shipping. You can select between silver or black (but there is no Raiders edition!). It will ship from Massdrop in late December 2018 and as usual with SMSL products, there is no mention of warranty in the listing.

Tue: Master & Dynamic MH40 Over-Ears for $220

Name brand headphones return to the Best Buy daily deals, this time around it is the new condition closed-back over-ear stylish Master and Dynamic MH-40 in the metal-silver/brown color scheme going for $220 with free shipping.

NOTE that the numbers may be similar but the MH40 is over-ear while the MH30 is on-ear, so keep that in mind when price-checking. Note also that the numerous colors of these are often priced differently. Another sign of a “fashion headphone” ^_^ This is after all an unapologetically retro-fashion headphone!

Now (FINALLY) shipping: Monolith Portable HeadAmp + DAC with THX AAA

Wallets, open wide! Here comes THX! One of the CES 2018 [yes, that’s almost a year ago] products offered at the Monoprice Big Bang then is now ___finally___ shipping! It is the new condition Monolith Portable Headphone Amplifier and DAC with THX AAA Technology, PID 24460, going for $280 plus shipping. Come on Monoprice, at least give it free shipping after 10 months of waiting 🙂

Digital inputs are of the micro-USB and 3.5mm optical kind, while the analog input is a standard 3.5mm. The 3.5mm is shared between optical and analogue Line IN. Lots of details and a couple of charts at the aforelinked page. There’s also a sub-1MB PDF user manual linked to there that is 22 pages long. There we learn that the volume knob is also a power button, a convenient way to save up on having yet another button ~ as long as it doesn’t accidentally turn on while in your bag.

PS: PID is the Product ID, a unique identifier given to every Monoprice product. The larger the number, the more recently it has been added to their website’s database.

PS2: the Monolith line-up at Monoprice has expanded so much so that they have created an audiophile-magazine splashy-ad type of a website to highlight all the products. There’s a total of eight Monolith branded headphones now. Guess the names before looking and win fabulous (virtual) prizes ^_^

EU: Shure SRH-840 for 127 euro

The discounting action continues for Shure at Amazon Germany. As of the time of writing, the new condition closed-back over-ear SRH-840 studio heapdhones are going for the very specific price of 127 euro with free shipping in Germany. VAT is included in the price for all EU countries… Other Shure closed and open over-ear/studio headphones are also discounting in different ways over there…

There’s also some discounting of models at Amazon USA, for example the open-back SRH-1440 goes for $300 with free shipping, while the good old SRH-440 is down to $79.

Motorola Pulse Escape SH-012 Closed Bluetooths for $20 after coupon

A phone-heavy mobile gadgets sale [some of the older phones with good DACs could be value plays as “PADs” [Phones as DAPs]] including among others the new condition Motorola Pulse Escape closed-back bluetooth headphones for $20 after entering limited time promo code USAVE030 over there. The promo code drops the price from $50 to $20.

This is model SH-012 and the offer is only available on the black color scheme… They run bluetooth 4.1…

SMSL Sanskrit 10th SK10 DAC for $75 [MD]

It’s red DAC time at the Massdrop website where for the next five days and change (from blog posting time] they are offering the new condition SMSL Sanskrit 10th SK10 DAC for $75. Melisandre would definitely approve of the red, but you can also select the blue color scheme at checkout 🙂 These will be shipped by Massdrop in mid-December 2018. There is no mention of warranty in the listing…

Mon: Creative Sound BlasterX G6 Hi-Res Gaming DAC and USB Sound Card for $100

Among the Monday NewEGG daily deals, thanks to promo code 115BBSR2, you can get the new condition Creative Sound BlasterX G6 Hi-Res Gaming DAC and USB Sound Card (with Xamp Headphone Bi-Amplifier for PC, PS4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch) for $100 instead of its regular price of $150. It has three reviews at NewEgg with a low rating, but the 17 at amazon.com do slightly better with an average of 3.3 out of 5.