Archives for May 2022

Tuesday: random audio sale with headphones

Good until literally the end of the month (5/31/22 at 11:59pm central time – or earlier if sold out) it is the return of the 19th variant of the Random Audio sale that features 13 audio products including these headphones:

+ Sony WH-1000X-M4 ANC/BT over-ears for $259

+ Philips on-ear ANC/BT closed-back for $55

+ 2pk of Sony basic earphones for $14

+ B&O BEOplay E8 truly-wireless for $250

+ KEF, Polk and JBL speakers
+ Samsung soundbar
+ Victrola suitcase vinyl player

Sunday: AUsounds for $25, BOSE 700 Soundbar for $569

Audio action at the Sunday May 29 (2022) B&H Photo daily deals running up until 11:59pm eastern time:

+ AUsounds AU-stream truly-wireless for $15

+ BOSE 700 Soundbar (black color scheme) for $569 after auto-activated in-cart coupon

H&A Studio Headphones + Korg Wavestate + JBL Studio Monitors for $750

Running as a limited time offer until Sunday 5/29/22 at 10am eastern {or before that if sold out), at Adorama, you can get this Korg bundle for $750 with free US shipping:

+ H&A Versa Professional Field and Studio Monitor Headphones

+ two JBL 305P MkII Powered 5″ Dual 41W Two-Way Studio Monitors

+ Korg Wavestate Wave Sequencing Synthesizer

FOCAL Elex Open Over-Ears for $599 [Massdrop X]

For a limited time, Massdrop is offering the new condition Massdrop X FOCAL Elex wired open-back over-ear dynamic driver headphones for $599 with free US shipping and a 2-year manufacturer warranty.

These are an “in-stock drop”, so they will ship in about two business days after purchase. Not like the other legendarily long Massdrop shipment waits 🙂

Per the listing over there, nearly 5000 units have been sold so far from Massdrop…

Akai Professional MPK mini mk3 Red Keyboard Controller and Musician’s Gear MG-900 Studio Headphones for $99

Good until Friday at 8am ET (or earlier if sold out), the current Musician’s Friend daily deal is a combo of the Musician’s Gear MG-900 studio headphones and the Akai Professional MPK mini mk3 Red Keyboard Controller, both of them together, with FREE US shipping for $99…

Thur: refurb Bose Sport truly-wireless earbuds with full warranty for $109 AC

Good until Thursday 5/19/22 at 11:59pm pacific time (or before if soldout), NewEgg actual (not iffy marketplace sellers) is offering the refurbished Bose Sport Earbuds, a truly-wireless model, for $109 after using promo code SSBSA929 in their shopping cart. Up to five per customer.

This comes with the same warranty as the new condition model. It also comes with 30-day hassle-free returns.

In comparison, the new condition goes for $179 at authorized Bose dealers such as those listing at Amazon

Thursday: 2x Sony MDR-ZX110-AP On-Ears w/mic-remote for $20

Not one, but two headphones! Good until 5/19/22 at 11:59pm eastern (or earlier if sold out), New York’s B&H Photo is offering as a bundle TWO of the new condition wired closed-back on-ear Sony MDR-ZX110-AP headphones with 1-button mic/remote in the black color scheme for $20. That’s $10 per headphone!

I haven’t had this particular model, but I had the ZX-310 and the ZX-100, and the one thing I remember is that (mayhaps) these were tuned for coffee shops. In a quite room (eg at home) they sounded like $10 headphones, but in coffee shops they were very usable.

PS: if the name rings a bell, a few months ago one of the hype YouTube reviewers “discovered” this headphone and tried to start a “discovery hype train” about it LOL

Sunday Bluetooths: M&D MW50+ for $130, BeyerD Amiron Copper LE for $500

Party-on audio fans! One of the Woot daily deals for Sunday 5/15/22 is another incarnation of the RAndom AUdio SAle which includes among others:

+ MASTER & DYNAMIC MW50+ Bluetooth Over/On-Ears, Black (MW50B1+) for $130
+ earpads “transform” them over-ears or on-ears

+ beyerdynamic Amiron bluetooths for $500
+ Copper, Touchpad, 30 Hour Battery, aptX HD, AAC, Limited Edition, Made in Germany

+ the above two are new condition with manufacturer warranty

+ there’s truly-wireless from Panasonic, JBL, Bang & Oluf, Beats, and Technics

+ Beats Solo PRO (refurbished Grade-A) on-ears for $125

+ the rest of the items are speakers and soundbars and subwoofers and such from KEF, Samsung, Monolith, Klipsch

+ there’s even a Victrola full size jukebox for $800

Sat: Beyerdynamic DT-770 PRO (80 ohm) for $104 AC

Exciting new developments in the world of BeyerDee coupons at the NewEgg daily deals! A new low price thanks to a larger coupon discount!

Running until Saturday 5/14/22 at 11:59pm pacific time, limited time promo code SSBSA427 gets you the new condition wired closed-back over-ear Beyerdynamic DT-770 PRO (80 ohm) for $104 after coupon, with free US S&H, sold and shipped by NewEgg itself…

Monolith USB DAC for $60, Liquid-Spark for $80, THX AAA Balanced for $250, Etc

Monoprice is having a Big Overstock sale and among the offerings there is some headphone related action, along with “Pro Audio” offerings!

+ Monolith USB DAC for $60
+ Monolith Liquid Spark head-amp by Cavalli for $80
+ Monolith THX AAA balanced head-amp for $250

+ Stage Right studio headphones for $22

+ Sonic Solace II ANC over-ears for $50

+ True Wireless Plus for $20
+ yep, that’s their name, easy and self-descriptive LOL

+ BA+Dynamic IEMs: Trio for $38, Quartet for $48, Quintet for $55

+ all kinds of cables and such

+ see them all at their Big Overstock sale

Tascam TH-300X studio headphones for $40 w/FS

Good until Monday 7/9/22 at 8am eastern time (or earlier if sold out), the Musician’s Friend daily deal is a recurring studio headphone, the closed-back over-ear Tascam TH-300X going for $40 with free US shipping.

Etymotic ER2-SE IEMs for $70

The Etymotic ER2-SE are riding high on the sub-$100 hype train, and if you want to join the ride, for a limited time, it is on sale for $70 at the Massdrop website with a 2-year manufacturer warranty included.

This is an “in-stock drop”, so it will be ship in a couple of business days. As of the time of writing, over 500 units have been shipped…

Thur: Direct Sound fstream X7 Bluetooth Receiver with Dual Headphone Outputs for $10

On the budget-gadget front, running until 5/5/22 at 11:59pm eastern, B&H Photo is offering the new condition Direct Sound fstream X7 Bluetooth Receiver with Dual 3.5mm Headphone Outputs & Microphone for $10 with free US shipping.

Note that this is bluetooth 4.1.

This has just four customer reviews with a 3.8 out of 5 as of the time of writing. One of them is a 1-star.

Monday: Samsung MX-T40 300W Bluetooth Speaker for $78 AC

We don’t normally post speaker deals here, but this is a whooping $220 off in-cart discount, so until 5/2/22 at 11:59pm eastern time (or before that if sold out), New York’s B&H Photo is offering the new condition Samsung MX-T40 300W Bluetooth Speaker for $78 with free US shipping. The discounting happens automatically in the shopping cart, you don’t have to enter a coupon code!

As of the time of writing this averages 4.7 out of 5 based on 66 customer reviews at B&H Photo, most of which are from product testers collected from Samsung and “The Insiders”…

Based on 568 ratings, it averages 4.5 out of 5 (together with two other models in the same series) at the Amazon website where it goes for $148 as of the time of writing…

PS: accepts USB audio…

Hifiman HE-560 V4 Premium open-back over-ear planars for $299

We are posting like the good old days, its our fifth post in a row today, and as fate would have it, it’s another Hifiman sale, the HE-560 V4 Premium (Adorama exclusive) for $300 at Adorama directly or you can buy it by Adorama thru Amazon for the same price…

I’m not familiar with the latest happenings in the world of Hifiman, so do check with your favorite forums, websites and video-sites for details and recommendations.

One name that keeps popping up that happens to be at the same price of $299 is the Sundara open-back over-ear planars (eg Amazon)…

PS: global correction, just in case, if you see “oven back” on this blog, it’s just a typo for “open back” 🙂

PS2: yes, I am working on a new website, “Cooking for Audiophiles” and that’s where the term “oven back” comes from 😉 #FakeNews

TOZO T6 truly-wireless for $24 AC

And now something of a more utilitarian interest. Thanks to a limited time 20% off clip-on coupon, a marketplace seller on Amazon is offering the black color scheme of the TOZO T6 true-wireless for $24 after the 20% off clip-on coupon! This is a bluetooth 5.3 (!) set, IPX8, with a total of (up to) 30 hours of playback between the earpieces (up to 6 hours) and the charging case (up to 24 hours in refills).

I don’t know if you can use one headset at a time, if you can, this could double up the playback time!

As of the time of writing, these average 4.4 out of 5 based on over 194,000 customer ratings.

Philips Open-Back Over-Ears: SHP-9500 for $60, SHP-9600 for $73

On the other hand, if you are looking for double-figures open-back over-ear headphones, two of the Philips models are currently on sale at Amazon. The SHP-9500 goes for $60, while the SHP-9600 goes for $73~…

These are sold by marketplace seller “Phototech” with the orders fulfilled by Amazon…

We have at this blog, from five years ago (!), a text and pictures unboxing of the SHP-9500S model. Sadly I didn’t keep these. I should have kept them! SAD!

Hifiman HE-400SE Planar Over-Ears for $109

Various well-known audio sellers at the Amazon website (including the official Hifiman Amazon store) are offering the new condition Hifiman HE-400SE planar-magnetic open-back over-ears for $109 with free US shipping. This is not a daily deal, so expiration date is unknown (to me)…

Check with your favorite audio websites, blogs, youtubes and forums for details and recommendations as there are many and more Hifiman options out there these days…

Sunday: HIFIMAN HE-400i planar over-ears for $200, Etc

An audio party is happening with a heavy headphone emphasis in another variant of the Woot random audio sale running until 5/1/22 at 10pm central time.

OF the 26 in-stock products, half of them are headphones including:

+ HIFIMAN HE-400i planar over-ears for $200

+ refurbished Sony WH-1000X M4 ANC/BT over-ears for $180
+ M3 for $160
+ come with a 1-year warranty from the refurbisher (not from Sony)

+ various Beats and Bose and Sony truly-wireless and bluetooth earphones

Meanwhile running until 5/2/22 at 10am ET, Adorama is offering the new condition Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 2×2 USB Audio Interface for $30…