Archives for November 2020

Alpha & Delta KS1 IEMs for $17 [MD]

Massdrop has entered the Chili’s menu earphone price range! That’s right, $17 gets you the new condition Alpha & Delta KS1 IEMs as part of the Black-Cyber week sales! This is a limited time promotion.

This is available in four color schemes. It comes with a detachable cable, extra eartips and a carrying case. There’s no mention of warranty in the listing (it is $17 after all). This is estimated to ship in mid-January 2021, so patience is indeed still a virtue 🙂

In other Black-Cyber action, they have the new condition Moondrop KXXX IEMs on sale for $169 with an early January 2021 shipment estimate…

November 30, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

DARKVOICE 336SE OTL headphone amp for $200 [MD]

Among the Cyber Monday promotions at Massdrop there’s an OTL headphone amp, the new condition DARKVOICE 336SE OTL going for $200 with your choice of 110V or 220V. This will ship in early January 2021, so keep that mind if you are looking for holiday season gifts. There is no mention of warranty in the listing…

Speaking of Massdrop, they have a Gaming Value Meal of the non-edible kind. If you start with the Drop ENTR mechanical keyboard page and from there you add the Sennheiser PC-37X gaming headset, and proceed to the shopping cart their total price will drop from $180 ($90 each) to $150. A combined purchase discount. No coupon is needed, this happens automatically during this limited time promotion…

Another one of their offers if you are interested in Mr Dan Clark Audio (DCA) ear-speakers (ha!). They are offering the new condition Drop + DCA AEON open X headphones of the V-Planar magnetic kind for $450 with free US shipping and free US returns. This is an in-stock drop, it will ship in a couple of business days… Optionally you can add a 3-year Drop extended warranty for +$40…

November 30, 2020 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Monday: Beyerdynamic DT PRO 990 (250) for $129

Beyerdynamics are frequent guests at the NewEgg daily deals but they don’t overstay their welcome, so it’s a pleasant surprise when they return, but they don’t visit every day 😉

Good until Monday 11/30/20 at 11:59pm pacific time, the new condition wired open-back over-ear Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO (250 ohm) is one of their deals du jour for $129 with free US shipping after promo code 93XQA39 entered in the shopping cart over there…

PS: I have to remember to mention “wired” now because there’s too many models overall and more and more of the newer headphones are wireless…

UPDATE: two of three colors of the Audio Technica ATH-CKS5-TW truly wireless are on sale for $100 each as one of their daily deals at Best Buy…

UPDATE #2: another Cyber Monday deal at Amazon’s gold box, it’s another Sony phone+headphone combo, Xperia 1 + WH-1000XM3 together for $550

UPDATE #3: the new condition Sennheiser IE 80S BT neckband bluetooth earphones going for $200…

November 29, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Cyber Monday Lightning Deals: 1More Triple and Quad Driver IEMs

As of the time of writing there are over 100 headphones scheduled in the “Headphones” lightning deal section of the Amazon Gold Box and among the sea of truly-wireless and bluetooth over/on-ears/earphones, there are a couple of recognizable audiophile-recognizable IEMs that are scheduled to go live as lightning deals as follows:

+ starts 10:55am ET: 1More Triple Driver IEMs (price before sale $68)

+ starts 7:55pm ET: 1More Quad Drive IEMs (price before sale $124)

+ non-Prime members have to wait for 30 minutes before they can buy them

+ as usual with Gold Box Lightning deals, they could get cancelled or rescheduled without prior notice

November 29, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With:

Sunday: Sandisk Clip Sport for $20, Etc

Good until Sunday 11/29/20 at 11:59pm eastern time, the B&H daily deals feature two headphone-related products as follows:

+ 8GB Sandisk Clip Sport mp3 player for $20

+ Motorola Verve Loop 200 bluetooth earphones for $13

Meanwhile a recurring headphone is back at the Best Buy dailies for Sunday, it is the new condition MEE Audio (formerly MEE Electronics) Matrix Cinema ANC/bluetooth over-ears going for $60 with free US shipping or store pickup where available/possible…

November 28, 2020 Filed Under: digital audio players Tagged With: , ,

AKG K-701 open over-ears for $159

An oldie is on sale until Sunday 11/29/30 at 10am eastern or earlier if sold out. IT is the new condition open-back over-ear wired AKG K701 going for $159 with free US shipping at Adorama as one of their deals du jour…

November 28, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

Saturday: name-brand truly wireless, $50 to $100

Saturday is name-brand truly-wireless (TW) at Woot Sellout, the sale good until 11/28/20 at 11:59pm central time or earlier if sold out:

+ Sennheiser Momentum TW for $100

+ Master & Dynamic MW07 TW for $95

+ Klipsch T5 TW for $50

November 27, 2020 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: , , ,

Sony WH-CH710N ANC/Bluetooth Over-Ears down to $88

The battle for the ANC/bluetooth over-ears market is fierce at all tiers these days. If you want to get a name-brand under $100, one of the Black Friday deals comes from Sony at participating authorized Sony USA dealers. It’s the new condition closed-back over-ear ANC with bluetooth WH-CH710N going for $88 by Amazon actual (two color options) and in black only at Adorama and also at B&H Photo which charges $2 more…

We have here a text and pictures unboxing of the previous generation model, the WH-CH700N. I haven’t seen or touched the newer 710 model, so I can’t compare…

November 27, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Tin Hifi T4 IEMs for $70 at Massdrop

Tin has been building a reputation for itself, and now the T4 IEMs are part of the Massdrop Black Friday, on sale for $70 with an early January 2021 shipping estimate. There’s no mention of warranty in the listing. They come with a nice looking case and various eartips [see gallery picture #6 over there]… This is the standard version, it is not a “Massdrop X” version [there’s enough of these that we now have to specify to prevent potential confusions]…

November 27, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

Used 1More Triple Driver IEMs for $40

If you are fond of the 1More Triple driver IEMs, there are plenty of them available in USED condition for around $40 at Amazon Warehouse Deals. This listing shows both new and used prices. Select USED on the tab over there to see even more used prices.

As of the time of writing used prices range from $38 in “Used – Good” to $41 in “Used – Like New”, with “Used – Very Good” sitting in between them at $40…

November 27, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

AKG K240 Semi-Open Over-Ears for $49

This is more of an homage buy, than a super-deal buy, and it may be useful for comparison/calibration of comments about other headphones since they’ve been around for a while and they’ve been had/used by many…

These refer to the semi-open over-ear AKG K240 (yes, first generation) going for $49 at authorized Samsung Harman Kardon AKG dealers 🙂 This includes Amazon and Adorama (option to buy together with H&A clamp holder for +$8), and at B&H Photo (option to buy together with Auray headphone stand or clamp for +$16 each)…

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Hifiman HE-4XX Planars drop to $120

If you’ve been planar-curious but haven’t taken the jump in yet, here’s a lower risk price! Massdrop has dropped the price of the new condition wired open-back over-ear Hifiman HE-4XX planar magnetics to $120 with free US shipping and free US returns with a 1-year manufacturer warranty. My Oh My! These will ship in early December 2020.

You have an option to add a 3-year Drop warranty with accidental coverage for +$20, US buyers only. Normally I avoid optional $warranties$, but this is Hifiman 🙂 They average 4.4 out of 5 based on 1414 customer reviews over there, but do take a look at the 1-star reviews, thus mayhaps the $20 3-year Drop warranty is not a bad idea?

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Black Friday Lightning Deals have no big names scheduled so far

In the published/teased Headphones Lightning Deals for Black Friday at Amazon, as of the time of writing, there are 85 options, but no big names scheduled. In some way this makes sense because the big names often appear when they go live or they are part of the day-change (12:01am pacific time).

Of those 85 teased lighting deals, there’s enough truly-wireless to outfit an army. But there are a few recognizable products as well:

+ starts 12:20am ET: KZ KS2 IEMs
+ there are multiple colors and variants on the product listing; sometimes only some of the options go on sale; on rare occasion it’s not the linked-to item that goes on sale but another option(s) ~ but the Lightning Deals teaser points to the “root item” (whatever that might be, mayhaps the first to be created for that multi-option listing?)

+ various Anker ANC/BT over-ears and wood-y Symphonized IEMs
+ we haz here a text & pictures unboxing of a wood-y Symphonized (not the ones scheduled in the lightning deals)

+ starts 2:05pm ET: Vogel On-Ears (multiple colors on the listing)
+ I haven’t seen these in-person, but comparing zoomed pictures with the old AmazonBasics On-Ears a few years ago, they look very very very similar;
+ they look similar (mayhaps different generation and customization?) to the Monoprice On-Ears which currently go for $15.50 minus a 15% off clip-on coupon
+ from what I recall AmazonBasics had two generations of these but they’ve either cancelled them or their contract ended or they are temporarily sold-out
+ I was planning to do a AmazonBasics vs Monoprice comparison of the two, but by the time I bought the Monoprice on sale, I had given away the AmazonBasics (for which I have pictures and notes somewhere ~ yes, I’m that organized!)

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones

Monoprice headphones, speakers and tube amps sale

Monoprice is running a big headphones and speakers sale. We already mentioned a couple of them, but they have a total of 37 headphone options on sale, seven speakers and three tube amps…

+ the good old 8323 closed over-ears for $16 with free US shipping

+ Modern Retro over-ears for $21
+ closed-back, clone cousin of Superlux/Samsons

+ some of their more recent multi-driver IEMs

+ three tube amps (not dedicated headphone amps)

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones, in-ears Tagged With:

Bose QuietComfort QC35 II ANC/BT Over-Ears for $199

Now that everybody is making a competitive ANC/BT over-ear headphone, BOSE is feeling the pressure and they have decreased the price of their good old QuietComfort QC35 II to $199 with free US shipping at B&H Photo and Amazon and also at Adorama…

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Cleer Flow ANC/BT Over-Ears down to $70

Cleer Audio is jumping on the Black Friday hype train too with a big discount in an attempt to generate some attention and such. They are currently offering their new condition closed-back ANC/bluetooth over-ears “Cleer Flow” for $70 with free US shipping at New York’s B&H Photo…

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Philips SHP-9600 Open Over-Ears down to $100

The Philips open-back over-ear wired headphones are now expanding their reach in the US market. They have arrived at the B&H Photo website and during the Black Friday season, they have been discounted as follows:

+ SHP-9600 (latest model) down to $100

+ good old SHP-9500 down to $80
+ we have a text and pictures unboxing of it here

+ Philips X2 (previous generation) down to $145

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Monoprice SonicSolace ANC/BT Over-Ears for $23 w/FS [updated]

Monoprice has an actual doorbuster! The new condition SonicSolace ANC/BT Over-Ears are on sale for just $23 with free US shipping in your choice of brown or black color scheme. This is a big drop in price indeed.

As of the time of writing this averages 4.2 out of 5 based on 400 customer reviews and they have 100 answered questions…

UPDATE: thanks to one of our readers for the comment! Apparently these have been on sale in this range; the last time I was tracking them these were going for 2X, that’s why I thought they were a BF doorbuster!

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Audeze iSine 20 Planar In-Ears for $229

Good until Friday 11/27/20 at 10am eastern time (or before that if it sells out), as one of their deals du jour, Adorama is offering the new condition Audeze iSine 20 planar in-ears for $229 with free US shipping and handling. You also earn 1% store rewards on the purchase (to be used in future purchases)…

This is B-stock but per the listing it still comes with a 3-year Audeze warranty…

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

Thursday NewEgg’s 24 Hour Headphone Sale!

NewEgg is running a 24 hour Black Friday sale for Thursday 11/27/20 [Happy Thanksgiving] on their website that includes three pages of Headphone deals including:

+ Sennheiser ME2IEI in-ears for $35
+ Sennheiser HD 2.30i or G closed on-ears for $28

+ Samson SR860 semi-open over-ears for $40

+ various other brands including Sony, Bose, Jabra, Anker, TrebLab, etc

+ Beyerdynamic sale with eight options including:

++ Amiron Home open over-ears for $320
++ Lagoon ANC Traveler for $210
++ Xelento wireless bluetooth in-ears for $599
++ a couple of “CREATOR 24” bundles

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones

AKG K92 Over-Ears with Tascam DR40X for $150

Part of the Black Friday – Cyber Monday festivities, Adorama is offering this AKG K92 + Tascam DR40X bundle for $150 with free US shipping. The K92 is a closed-back over-ear wired headphone while the DR40X is a 4-track digital audio recorder and USB audio interface. The Tascam is in the red color scheme.

November 26, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Thursday: Audio Technica ATH-CKR7-TW truly wireless for $49

If you are looking for truly-wireless from more audiophile-oriented companies, B&H Photo is offering until 11/26/20 at 11:59pm ET the new condition Audio Technica ATH-CKR7-TW truly wireless for $49 with free US shipping. Note however that of the seven customer reviews posted there (as of the time of writing) six of them are unhappy, so be sure to look into it before buying!

November 25, 2020 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: ,

Monolith Black Friday sale at Monoprice

Monoprice’s Monolith high-end audio brand is having its Black Friday sale as well. This includes speakers and subwoofers, but when you further page down over there you will find their headphone offerings. A total of eight products are on offer, five headphones and three DAC/amps!

Planar Open-Back Over Ears
+ M570 for $200
+ M1070 for $300
+ M1570 for $400
+ staircase prices in full octaves 🙂

Earphones
+ M350 planar earphones for $90
+ M-TWE truly-wireless for $100

DAC/amps
+ Monolith USB DAC for $70
+ Monolith THX AAA Balanced Headphone Amplifier for $330
+ Monolith Liquid Platinum Balanced Headphone Amplifier by Alex Cavalli for $400

November 25, 2020 Filed Under: amps and dacs, headphones Tagged With: , ,

Philips X3 Open Over-Ears for $199

The revitalized Philips is pushing forward with new products, and one of them is the open-back over-ear wired X3 headphone, the continuation of the line that began with the good old X1. As of the time of writing the X3 is down to $199 with free US shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual…

The revitalized Philips also “revitalized” their prices upwards, angering some fans who got used to the good old SHP-9500 pricing. But I’m guessing Philips saw the crazy prices on some of the hype headphones du jour on Head-Fi and elsewhere and mayhaps they decided they want some of that too 🙂

November 25, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Sennheiser PC-37X Massdrop Open Gaming Headset down to $90

Gaming without frontiers, war without tears! Or something like that. Anyway, Peter Gabriel silliness aside, Massdrop has another discount for gamers, the new condition Massdrop X Sennheiser PC-37X open-back over-ear wired gaming headset is down to $90!

Since this is a product co-born [new word?] by Massdrop and Sennheiser, it comes with a 2-year manufacturer warranty. These will ship quickly, as of the time of writing the shipping estimate is December 1st ~ 2020 – to be sure 🙂

November 25, 2020 Filed Under: headset Tagged With: , ,

Massdrop X Focal Elex Open Over-Ears for $550

It’s not FOCAL week, I just post whatever deals I run into 🙂 As one of their Black Friday offerings, Massdrop is offering their new condition Massdrop X Focal Elex open-back over-ear wired headphones for $550 with a 2-year manufacturer warranty. Per the listing this is handmade in France!

This is estimated to ship in mid-December. Given the COVID situation, it may or may not arrive by the year-ending holidays, so YMMV (as with everything these days)…

There’s also an optional $20 off combined purchase discount if you purchase it together with the DROP + THX AAAâ„¢ 789 LINEAR AMPLIFIER. You add this from the product listing page, not from the shopping cart like you used to…

November 24, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Focal Elegia over-ears for $690, OB for $519, Used for $479

As part of the Black Friday festivities, for a limited time, Adorama is offering the new condition closed-back wired over-ear FOCAL Elegia [Audiophile Elegy?] for $690 with free US shipping and handling…

On the same listing you will see a used option for $479 and open-box for $519… Used quantities may be limited, so YMMV depending on when you read this and how much demand there is for the Elegia…

November 24, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

H&A Versa studio headphones for $50

If you are looking for a studio headphone of the Sony V6/7506 homage kind, good until 11/25/20 at 10am eastern time [or earlier if sold out] you can get the new condition H&A Versa for $50 with free US shipping at the Adorama website…

They come with two cables (one straight, one coiled) and a 1/4″ adapter and a 1-year warranty…

November 24, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

EU Amazons: 30% off select Warehouse Deals headphones

Good until the end of November, some of the European Amazon websites are offering 30% off on select items that are in “Warehouse Deals”, their used products sales arm. The items must be sold by “Warehouse Deals” actual, not by other marketplace sellers.

+ at Amazon Germany they have nearly 900 headphone options, including some high-end gear like the Fostex TH-610, AKG K872, A&K IEMs, Philips X3, B&W, etc

+ at Amazon France they have over 850 options but the product coding seems to sometimes be off, so it may include some non-headphone items

+ at Amazon UK they have over 1000 options and they include the V-Moda M200, AKG K712, M&D, etc

+ similarly you can go through and check Amazon Spain, Italy, and don’t forget the more recently-launched Holland and Sweden

KEEP IN MIND, quantities of used items are often very limited. They may have only one unit of some of the items. The more niche usually, the smaller the quantity. Note also that some of these things may be a common inventory among the various EU Amazons. BREXIT does not kick in until 2021…

November 24, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Tuesday (refurb PADs): LG G7 $130, LG V40 $160

We are big fans of the “phones as DAPs” thing, not to mention you can use them at home for general use (smart home controls, kitchen and tea timer, smartTV remote, etc ~ without having to unlock the phone all the time), etc.

Good until 11/24/20 at 11:59pm central time, Woot is having an older Android phones sale which includes a couple of refurbished audio-friendly LG phones at good prices:

+ LG V40 ThinQ V405 (Unlocked) for $160
+ LG G7 ThinQ unlocked for $130
+ and if you are fond of the stylus equalizing way of things, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 goes for $230 and Note 9 for $340
+ they have a 90-day Woot warranty
+ all these are refurbished and “scratch and dent” ~ which is their polite way of scaring away perfectionists and nitpickers and complainers 😉

November 23, 2020 Filed Under: digital audio players Tagged With: , ,

KOSS ESP/95X Electrostatic System (headphones and matching amp) drop to $390

Time to reuse my favorite most irritating phrase! Come on Barbie, let’s have an electrostatic party! It’s a sale, a Black Friday week sale at Massdrop and now $390 is all it takes to get your hands on the new condition KOSS ESP/95X ELECTROSTATIC SYSTEM. This includes both the electrostatic headphones and their matching amplifier. Free US shipping and free US returns. International shipping is not free but it is discounted. You have a power option of 120V or 220V depending on your location and power situation/needs/preferences…

This is a KOSS x Massdrop co-operation and it comes with the customary KOSS limited lifetime warranty of the legendary company from the state of Wisconsin. And when you open the package, you will definitely smell their dairy air 😉

This is a quick-shipping offer, they are estimated to ship on November 30 in 2020, so it’s not one of those wait-and-pray five month long Massdrop offers 🙂

November 23, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Sony WH-1000XM4 with FREE Energizer 20,000 mAh powerbank for $278

Freebie time for the new condition USA-warranty closed-back over-ear Sony WH-1000XM4 bluetooth with ANC headphones. This is the latest generation model. This is, as of the time of writing, on sale for $278 at select authorized Sony USA dealers. The offers are as follows:

+ at Adorama with FREE Energizer 20,000 mAh power-bank and cleaning cloth

+ without freebies at B&H Photo and by Amazon actual

November 23, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Philips SHP-9500 resurfaces at …Massdrop!

It’s the return of an old hype-darling as Philips is getting re-invigorated with its new masters. That’s right, the open-back over-ear wired Philips SHP-9500 is now on-offer at Massdrop for $70. This is the standard version, not a Massdrop customization. The offer runs for the next seven days [as of the time of writing] and it is expected to ship in early January 2021, so patience is definitely a virtue, and it obviously won’t get here/there before Christmas 🙂

Plenty has been written about this and its SHP-9500S cousin. Here we have a text and pictures un-boxing of the cousin, which is pictured below…

November 21, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser IE-60 arrive at Massdrop for $100

Joining the “$100 in-ears party” is a new entry at Massdrop, they have now began offering the new condition Sennheiser IE-60 IEMs for $100. This is the standard version of the earphone, not a Massdrop custom production.

This is not an in-stock drop. They are estimated to ship by mid-December 2020. They also need to reach the minimum purchase quantity to activate (six more sales needed as of the time of writing of this blog-post)…

November 21, 2020 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

Hifiman HE-4XX Planars drop to $160

Massdrop is back with more Black Friday 2020 offers, headlined by the new condition Hifiman HE-4XX planar-magnetic open-back over-ear wired headphones going for $160 with free US shipping and free returns. International shipping is discounted but not free. It comes with a 1-year warranty but optionally those in the US can add for an extra $20 a 3-year Massdrop warranty with accidental coverage.

This is not an in-stock drop. Shipping is estimated to begin in early December 2020.

November 20, 2020 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,