FiiO Multifunction Dock (DK1) under $30

Fiio is learning how to play the game, accessories is one of the paths on the stairway to profits and they have a new one, the FiiO Multifunction Dock, model DK1, is currently in-stock and ready to ship for $25 plus $5 flat shipping from Tinbel thru Amazon. Tinbel is an authorized dealer, but this listing is not Prime eligible. If you are a Prime member, and you don’t need it immediately, you may want to wait for a Prime-eligible model.

If you want to optimize for a lower-price or you have Adorama gift certificates they are accepting pre-orders for $20 plus shipping. The lowest shipping price is around $7 (depending on zipcode).

This is compatible with four of their DAPs (first generation X1 and X7, second generation X3 and X5) along with the E17K. In addition to the prominent micro-USB charging prong on the front, the back of the device has an audio Line Out and a micro-USB Power Input. See picture #4 at Amazon’s. The headphone out of the Fiios is on top, so you can just pull it out of the dock and go.

This could be handy, I’m currently putting my Fiio DAP on one of those flexible phone holders when I’m using it on a desk. I can’t charge it with this thrifty setup because the microUSB port is sitting on the bottom part of the phone holder. The dock would also provide a sprawling kind of portable set-up using a portable power brick to power the dock charging the Fiio. I haven’t measured them but those 10,000+ mAh ones could power/recharge the Fiios many times over (they re-charge tablets and 6-inch phones multiple times on a single power brick charge).

September 26, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Vibes High-Fidelity Earplugs for $21 [MD]

These earplugs are all about hearing protection when listening to loud live music, but you could also use them to troll your friends, trying to convince them they are new Apple AirPods 🙂 It’s the Vibes High-Fidelity Earplugs fully unlocked at Massdrop for $18 plus $3~ flat shipping. The offer runs for the next eight days and comes with a 1-year warranty from Massdrop, with a late October 2016 shipping estimate.

If you don’t want to wait for that long, they are sold by Vibes for $24 with the orders fulfilled by Amazon, so a Prime membership gets them to your door in 2-ish days.

September 26, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

WoodLab Royal Glam Headphone Stand for $59 [MD]

If you are part of the “audio wood” fan club, another offer has unlocked at Massdrop, with eight days to go (from blog-posting date = today), it is the WoodLab Royal Glam Headphone Stand going for $50 plus $9~ flat shipping. Three finishes are available, which you can select at checkout. Shipment estimate is early November 2016, patience is after all something heavily encouraged by the trees 🙂

September 26, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

Chromecast Audio new low: $25 with free shipping

Google’s first generation Chromecast Audio has reached a new low in new condition from authorized dealers, it currently goes for $25 with free shipping by Best Buy on eBay and Staples.com (free S&H for Rewards member or free store pick-up).

PS: as of the time of writing, the price remains $35 at the official eBay Google Play store.

PS2: Google is planning an October 4 big announcement day. Leaks speak of a 4K Ultra Chromecast, but I haven’t seen anything about a second generation Chromecast Audio. But that doesn’t mean they will (or will not) have something revealed there.

PS3: If you are Chromecast-Audio-curious, here’s our text and pictures useful Unboxing. Fear not, there’s no audio and no video. It’s a non-disruptive unboxing 🙂

September 25, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Used Schiit Wyrd USB Decrapifier for $89

The Schiit Audio Wyrd USB Decrapifier goes for $100 plus mandatory shipping at the Schiit website in new condition, but if you are comfortable with used and like free shipping, Amazon seller “Audio Fanatic” (100%, 69 ratings) is offering it in “Used – Like New” condition for $89 with free shipping. This ships directly from them, so it is not Prime eligible. This is available through Amazon Warehouse Deals.

September 23, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Dekoni Premium Ear Pads for Fostex TH-X00 for $36 [MD]

This is a very specific offer but considering this is a popular headphone at MassDrop (MD), it makes sense that they would be offering this, it is the Dekoni Premium Ear Pads for them, going for $32 plus $4~ flat shipping. Optionally you can upgrade to Sheepskin for +$13. The offer is running for the next 7 days (from blog-posting date), comes with a 1-year warranty from MD, and will ship late October 2016. This is an “all sales final” type of an offer.

September 21, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Sentey GS-1401 Universal Black Carrying Case for $7

The Sentey GS-1401 Universal Black Carrying Case is currently down to $7, in new condition, sold by Sentey with the orders fulfilled by Amazon, so they are Prime eligible. Shhh! Don’t tell them, it’s not an Add-On item 🙂 It averages 4 out of 5 based on 570+ customer reviews. Check the pictures, item description, customer reviews and 170+ answered questions to get a feel of what size/shape headphones can fit in this one.

September 20, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Etymotic EATFL1-6 Triple Flange Sleeves for $7.79

On the consumable accessories front, the Etymotic EATFL1-6 Triple Flange Sleeves (for all SE models except for the SE102MPA), along with the SCL3 through 5, and E3c through E5c, and E500, are on sale for $7.79 at Amazon.com. Free shipping for Prime members or with a $49+ order. Thankfully they are NOT Add-On items 🙂

PS: “consumable” from the earphones’ perspective, not from a human’s perspective. Do not eat these 🙂

September 15, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

SP ATH-M50x Velour Earpads for $25 shipped [MD]

The Audio Technica M50x are popular enough their accessories are becoming stars 😉 Which brings us to another unlocked Massdrop offering, it is the Sound Professionals (the brand name) Velour Earpads for the M50x going for $22 plus $3~ flat shipping. There are five colors to choose from. The pads don’t just fit the M50x, they also fit the whole new Mx0x lineup (M20X to M50X) along with the good old M50. Shipping estimate is early October and there are about eight days (from blog posting date) to go on this offer.

September 14, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

5pk Cosmos Headphone Drawstring pouches for $10.50

On the budget side of things, this 5-pack of Cosmos brand drawstring headphone pouches in the gray color scheme is going for $10.50 by Cosmos, with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so you get free 2-day shipping if a Prime member. Dimensions are listed in the listing. They also have this in black which goes for $12. While the gray only has two reviews, the black has 73 with a 4.6 out of 5 average.

I bought these a couple of years ago and I am planning to review them, but I haven’t seen them in a few months. I hadn’t even taken them out of their packaging. I have to plan an excavation project to see if I can unearth them 🙂

September 12, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Cosmos replacement earpads for Sony V6, MDR-7506 for $6.55 [Prime eligible]

The Sony MDR-V6 and MDR-7506 duo has been around for a while and sold many and more. If you have those and need additional earpads, the Cosmos brand earpad for those two is going for $6.55 by a few marketplace sellers with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so they are Prime eligible. Thankfully they are not an Add-On item, so you get free 2-day shipping with just one pair of these 🙂

In the same listing, the same company has replacement earpads for other headphones (AKG K240, Sennheiser HD 2XX, Sony MDR-V, Beats), so if you click on the tabs over there, make sure you are buying the pads for the intended headphone. All together as a group, they average 4.3 out of 5 based on 430+ customer reviews.

Of those reviews, over 140 of them are for this particular model. If you want to read the reviews for the V6/7506 model, this link shows those only. In the reviews you will also other headphones that have a good fit per the reviewers (eg Monoprice 8323, Denon D950, etc).

Some of the customer reviews like them, while others complain that they are not as good or as soft or as thick as the originals.

September 12, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

[DEAD] Avantree Solid Steel Headphone Stand for $20 [ends 2:19pm ET]

This lightning deal expired…

[Read more…]

September 12, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Repurposing Office Supplies As Earphone Cases Part II: $1 Office Depot/Max Clearance Sale

We previously mentioned the thrifty-ghetto way of using back-to-school doorbusters as temporary or permanent cases for earphones. We now have another set of clearance office supplies for repurposing for this task.

The Office Depot and Office Max stores are having a Back to School Clearance sale, and among the items that are put on clearnace ($1 each) are a handful of their boxed supplies. All of which could make good repurposed cases for earphones, either as they are or if you add padding inside.

[Read more…]

September 11, 2016 Filed Under: accessories

Fiio HS8 Silicone Case for X5 (1st Generation) for $5

If you happen to have the Fiio X5 (first generation) music player and you want the blue official Fiio silicon case/wrapper for it, it is currently available for $5 in new condition by a marketplace seller with the order fulfilled by Amazon. It is not an Add-On item, so you get free 2-day shipping even if you only buy this blue case.

NOTE: the main picture there shows five different cases. You only get one blue case.

PS: this case is only for the first generation X5, not the second generation.

September 10, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Sentey LS-4231 On-Ear headphones with Carrying Case for $10 [updated]

This is a chicken and the egg type of a deal. Do you buy it for the case or for the headphones? The Sentey LS-4231 closed-back on-ear headphones come with a hard zippered carrying case in their box, and they go for $10 in red headphone color schemes. The case is the same color (black). Considering the prices of zippered headphone cases, it may be worth more than the headphones 🙂 Close-up pictures of the case among the customer reviews. Together they average 4.3 out of 5 based on 1882 customer reviews, and have 120+ questions answered. This is at Amazon by Amazon actual.

UPDATE 9/9/16: the black jumped to $13, but the red remains at $10. Link above changed to point to the red color scheme.

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: accessories, headphones Tagged With: ,

[DEAD] Feed your DAPs and Phones and Laptops: Storage Sale

These daily offers expired…

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September 7, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Coming Soon: LG V20 may include B&O Play H3 Earphones

The LG V20 is now officially announced [check our IFA 2016 post for more on that], and during the presentation, LG revealed that it may include the B&O Play H3 earphones, which go for $150 on their own (not clear whether they’ll come with the 1st or 2nd generation of the earphones).

NOTE: it is not known yet which markets and which carrier bundles will get the B&O earphones. We have to wait and see.

September 6, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

1-Year Stereophile Digital Subscription for $6

There are no in-english dedicated headphone magazines in the USA, so if you like magazines with headphone coverage, it’s the general audio magazines, and one of these is on sale as a digital subscription, 1-Year of Stereophile goes for $6 total at Zinio. This is twelve issues. You can read it online or using the Zinio app available on iOS, Android and Windows. This is a limited time sale but I do not know when it expires.

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Caseling Hard Headphone Travel Case for $14

The Caseling Hard Headphone Travel Case, in the black color scheme, is currently on sale for $14, in new condition, by a marketplace seller with the order fulfilled by Amazon (Prime eligible). It averages 4.7 out of 5 based on 300+ customer reviews and has 50+ questions answered. It is marketed to fit headphones of the size of the Audio Technica M50x. Check the reviews and questions (they both have search-boxes) to see what other headphones fit and don’t fit. I don’t have this case, so I can’t tell what else may fit.

September 2, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

6pk Koss Portable Replacement Cushions for $3

If you are planning a present or near-future order at Amazon of $25+, the 6pk of Koss Portable Replacement Cushions (good for multiple models including PortaPros and KSC-75) is down to $3 per 6pk at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of five sets per customer. The catch is that they are an Add-On item, so you must place a $25+ qualifying order, otherwise the shopping cart will refuse to let you buy them.

August 28, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Chromecast Audio drops to $30 again

A new week is here with another round of manufacturer-initiated discounts, and among them it is the new condition Chromecast Audio going for $30 with free shipping at the official Google eBay store (limit 5) and free shipping for Rewards members at Staples.com.

In parallel, there’s a promotion running until 9/15/16 that gets you two free months of Spotify Premium with Chromecast Audio purchase. Perhaps Google is building up goodwill towards competitors to discourage monopolistic complaints 🙂

If you are Chromecast-Audio-curious, here’s our text and pictures useful Unboxing. Fear not, there’s no audio and no video. It’s a non-disruptive unboxing 🙂

August 28, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Thrifty Ideas: Back to School Doorbusters as Earphone Cases

And now something different, at the intersection of fun, funny and practical 🙂 We are in back to school season, and some of the doorbusters and coupon specials or clearance items you may find at some of the big chain stores (from Staples to Office Depot-Max to Target to Walmart to Big Lots to drug store and grocery chains and all in-between) can actually be re-purposed as earphones cases, and in the case of folding portable on-ears, as headphone cases too 🙂

All the things you see below have been repurposed as earphone cases. You can see them all in this Thrifty Office Supplies Doorbuster post. Fear not, the pictures are .PNG, they won’t eat up your bandwidth 🙂

These are our “raw materials”:

b2s_cover2

And this is one of the many examples of their repurposing:

See them all at the detailed post at the main website. I have to change the WordPress theme of that one, it looks kinda space-age-goofy 🙂

August 25, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Pelican 1012 Pick N’ Pluck Foam Set for 1010 Micro-Case for $3.17 [limit 10]

If you have or are planning to buy the Pelican 1010 Micro Cases (currently starting at $9.50 depending on color and seller), we have good news and bad news for the Pelican 1012 Pick N’ Pluck Foam Set (for the Pelican 1010 Micro-Cases or other similar cases). Its price has dropped down to $3.17, in new condition, at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of ten per customer. The bad news is that it is an Add-On item, so your order total must be $25+, otherwise their shopping cart will not let you buy it. You can get to $25+ by getting eight or more of these (based on current prices).

The foam set averages 4.5 out of 5 based on 29 customer reviews. Per the description, the foam is “die-cut into one inch squares”. I will pick one up the next time I place a $25+ order.

August 24, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Wooden Omega Headphone Stand for $24

The new condition Wooden Omega Headphone Stand is currently available for $24 by a handful of marketplace sellers with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so they are Prime eligible. The three listings you see for $17 with free shipping ship directly from mainland China and they are fairly new sellers, so that’s a higher risk. You can tell this by looking at the detailed listings. For most China sellers it says so in the detailed listing but not for all of them. For those not mentioning it, the shipping estimate is a dead giveaway, if it’s over a month, it means very show shipping from China.

To cut a long story short, fulfilled by Amazon saves you a lot of potential headaches. Shipment happens from Amazon’s warehouses, and if there’s a problem, you deal with Amazon’s customer service, not the marketplace sellers.

The stand averages 4.3 out of 5 based on 163 customer reviews and has a pretty solid “review intensity ratio”, around 15:1 (the percentage of 5-star reviews vs 1-star reviews).

A tall annotated screenshot with the shipment details marked is after the jump if you are not familiar with the detailed Amazon product listings. NOTE: it may be presented differently depending on what browser you use, what device/OS, size of your viewport (size of browsing window), and whether Amazon’s computers are doing any experiments with how they display listings…

[Read more…]

August 22, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

SteelSeries Siberia 800 Wireless Gaming Headset for $200

Another variation of a PC Accessories sale is running in the Amazon Gold Box, and one of the 25 participating items is the SteelSeries Siberia 800 Wireless Gaming Headset offered for $200 with free shipping with a limit of three units per customer. Offer ends by Friday 3am ET.

If you want to have a very portable collection of 128GB of music of your own choice and format, the 128GB Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive goes for $24 with the same limit of three per customer. This is small enough you can fit on the side of a laptop or connect to a phone/tablet with an OTG cable. It’s like your phone/tablet is wearing an earring 🙂

August 18, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

4pk ZMLM Earbud Carrying Cases for $10

Four ZMLM (the brand name, not a cat walking on the keyboard) earbud cases are bundled together for $10 by ZMLM directly, with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so it is Prime eligible. Check both the product pictures and the customer reviews/pictures to get a feel for its size if you plan to use it with larger earphones or tiny DACs/DAPs. I added it to the list of things to consider considering reviewing 🙂

August 16, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Trio of Gaming Headsets from $30 to $67 (Razer, HyperX)

Oops, I forgot about this, but one of the Tuesday daily deals at Amazon is a sale on twenty computer accessories including a trio of gaming headsets with these prices:

+ Razer Kraken USB Over Ear PC, Playstation 4, and Music Headset for $45
+ Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Sound USB Gaming Headset for $67
+ Kingston HyperX Cloud Drone Gaming Headset for $30

There is a limit of up to three units per item during this sale. The offers expire at 3am eastern on Wednesday or earlier if any of them manages to get sold out.

August 16, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

AcousticSheep SleepPhones for $30

Do humans dream of electric sheep when they wear headphones at night? We may never know but the AcousticSheep SleepPhones dropped to $30 in most of the size and color combinations by a variety of sellers with most of the orders fulfilled by Amazon. They average 3.6 out of 5 based on 2288 customer reviews. Picture #3 there is LOLworthy showing the husband visibly snoring 🙂

August 15, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

1-Year of Sound and Vision (digital subscription) for $5

If you like to read audio magazines from the traditional publishers in digital format, for a limited time you can get a 1-year subscription to Sound and Vision (11 issues) for $5 total. This is through the Zinio service, you can read the magazine with a browser or using their iOS/Android/Windows apps.

PS: dedicated headphone magazines don’t seem to be a thing in the West, the annual guide by Innerfidelity’s parent company did not return last year, while the translated-to-English version of Japan’s Mook did not return either (or I can’t find it). I have both. The IF one was more of a gallery with short articles, but the Japanese magazine had some really nice articles (think “deep cuts” for enthusiasts) in the back and lots of headphone content and mini-reviews with sound signature spider-web diagrams (or whatever they are called). I have both magazines, I am planning to review them both, they are on the to-do list which sadly keeps getting longer 🙂

August 11, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

[DEAD] CASEBUDi Hard Shell Headphone Carrying Case for $30 [ends 5:49pm ET]

This is now a …cold case (translation: the sale ended)…

[Read more…]

August 11, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Earzonk Grado Case with L-Cushions for $20

Speaking of Grados, the Earzonk Grado Case (made by EarZonk) which comes with EarZonk L-Cushions included, is going for $20 with a limit of eight per customer (or there are eight units left), sold by EarZonk with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so it is Prime eligible. It averages 4.6 out of 5 based on 69 customer reviews.

PS: if you only want the L-cushions and don’t need the case, the EarZone L-Cushions go for $10 each, same selling/shipping situation as above. These average 4.4 out of 5 based on 140+ customer reviews.

August 9, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Earsonics Earpad Plugs for $22 [MD]

On the hearing protection front, fully unlocked at Massdrop are the Earsonics Earpad Plugs going for $19 plus $3~ flat shipping. The offer is good for the next seven days. They come with a carrying pouch and a 1-year warranty from Massdrop (MD). They do not play music! Shipping estimate is early September but it may end earlier, there are only 100 units available for this offer.

Competing on price with these are the Etymotic Research ER20XS-SMF-P currently going for $20 at amazon.com in Standard or Large fit. But their universals go for $25. The usual free shipping terms apply (Prime or $49++).

August 9, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , , ,

Chromecast Audio for $30 with free shipping

It’s back on sale again, the new condition first generation (the only generation of writing time) Chromecast Audio is going for $30 with free shipping at the Google eBay store and Staples.com (free shipping for Rewards members or free store pickup). These are typically weekly sales, so as a minimum it should last until Saturday night 8/13/16.

PS: if you are curious about what you get, here’s our text-and-pictures useful-unboxing post (no audio, no video, no annoyances!).

August 7, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

Shure Velour Earpads (HPAEC940) for SRH940 (and others) for $16.66

You don’t have to have a Shure SRH940 to use these earpads, they fit a number of other headphones as well, see reviews and answered-questions there or use your favorite search engine. They are the Shure HPAEC940 velour earpads and they are on sale for $16.66 at amazon.com with the usual free shipping terms. Use the search boxes for the reviews and Q&A for your headphones of interest to see what other people found out.

August 7, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

BCP Earphone case (black) for $7.50

The Pelican 1010 cases go for $9.50 in some colors, but if you don’t like them or want to save some more or you prefer a case that is not see-through, and you are an adventurous shopper who doesn’t mind buying something that doesn’t have any customer reviews, the BCP Earphone case goes for $7.54 with free shipping for Prime members or with a $49+ order. There are four product pictures over there and the description has internal and external measurements.

August 6, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: