If you had been waiting for hte new Sony MDR-1000X headphones (announced at IFA 2016) to be released, we have good news for you! Both the black color scheme and the brown color scheme are in-stock by Amazon actual. These ANC and Bluetooth combo headphones currently average 4.5 out of 5 based on 30+ customer reviews, and they already have 40+ answered-questions… For more updates on newly-released headphones, check the Headphone Tracker…
Sony MDR-100AAP and $100 Promo Gift Card for $198
The closed-back over-ear Sony MDR-100AAP headphones, part of their “h.ear” line-up, go for $200 at authorized Sony USA dealers. That’s also the price at the Dell Home store, however, good until 10/27/2016 at 7am central time, you will receive a $100 Dell promotional gift card if you purchase them for $198.
The $100 promo gift card will be emailed to you 10-20 days after your order ships, and will have to be used within 90 days of delivery. That’s why it’s “promo gift card”, instead of a normal gift card. This is partially why they are able to offer this, it almost guarantees that you will place at least one more order from them. So it’s sort of like a customer acquisition type of an expense.
Only the black color scheme is eligible for this. The offer is mentioned both on the product page and the shopping cart. Here’s a screenshot of how it looks on the product page:
Review-wise, so far, they average 4.4 out of 5 but only based on 29 customer reviews at amazon.com where they actually have slightly more answered-questions than reviews. These are folding headphones by the way.
Bluedio Turbine T2S Bluetooth Over/On-Ears for $18 w/free S&H
You don’t have to wait for Amazon lightning deals or sales to get these under $20, because the maker’s own eBay store offers them for under $20, in new condition, and with free shipping for all. “These” are the Bluedio Turbine T2S bluetooth over/on-ears (I can’t tell for certain whether they are over- or on-ear). They run Bluetooth 4.1 and have a built-in rechargeable battery. The ones on sale at the Bluedio eBay store are the red color scheme going for the very specific price of $17.20 with free shipping, and the blue color scheme going for the very specific price of $17.50 with free shipping. These ship from Southern California, offer 30-day returns, and have no quantity limit per customer.
These have nearly 3000 customer reviews at amazon.com where they average 4 out of 5 and they have over 500 questions answered. They even fold ~ the headphones, not the reviews 😉
I haven’t listened to them, but the price is right for a utilitarian bluetooth set. If I didn’t already have a boatload of things to review I would have picked up a pair to review, but I’m only one and more of a single-threaded Celeron than a 256-threaded workstation 😉
AKG K181 DJ UE On-Ear DJ for $63 [MD]
Green Day may be trying to kill the DJ, but most headphone companies love DJs so much they make headphones for them 🙂 Which brings us to another offer that fully blossomed at Massdrop, it is the closed-back on-ear DJ-tagged AKG K181 DJ UE headphones going for $55 plus $8~ flat shipping. I round prices, that’s the “~”, because it’s easier to write and type $8 than $7.749583493234356 🙂 The offer is running for the next seven days and will ship shockingly-quickly by MD standards, early November 2016. They come with a 2-year AKG warranty service.
Shipping Now: Bowers & Wilkins P9 for $900
Bowers & Wilkins is a stylish brand, so it makes sense they’d go higher in premium models, and their new P9 Signature line headphones are now in-stock and ready to ship to your head for $900 with free shipping with a limit of ONE per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual… For more new headphone arrivals, check the Headphone Tracker…
In-stock (2 left): brown Sony MDR-1000X for $398
Sony’s answer to the ANC + Bluetooth combo headphone that got revealed at IFA 2016 (loooong browser crashing post) is back in-stock in the brown color scheme, as of the time of writing, there are two units left of the Sony MDR-1000X for $398 by Video & Audio Center thru Amazon. This is not Prime eligible (it ships directly from VAC)… For the latest comings and goings of some of the latest headphones be sure to stay tuned and bookmark the Headphone Tracker that got launched earlier in the week…
Philips X2 back in-stock, going for $271 [was $247]
I am not keeping up with the latest updates on the Philips-Gibson Glue Gate Crisis 2016, but the headphones are back in-stock at Amazon by Amazon actual for $271 [was $247~] with a limit of five units per customer… I added them to the Headphone Tracker until their stock situation stabilizes…
Price updated in the post here on 10/22/16 PM.
Used Recertified Bowers & Wilkins P3 for $45 to $52 (depending on color scheme)
We mentioned earlier that the new condition Bowers and Wilkins P3 are going for $77 to $90, but if you want to get them and pay under $50, and you are willing to go double-used, then there are two options at Amazon Warehouse Deals. What I mean by “double used” is that these are used condition headphones of the recertified models. In other words, someone bought the recertified from Amazon, then returned them or traded them in, and now Amazon Warehouse Deals is selling the recertified models in used condition. Not as mind-bending as Looper, but getting there 😉
Two of the colors are available under $50 in “used recertified” condition at Amazon Warehouse Deals, the black color scheme goes for $45 in “Used – Good” and $48 in “Used – Very Good” or $51 in “Used – Like New”. They have multiple listings, so there is the possibility of price pressure bringing them further down.
Meanwhile the white color scheme is available in “Used – Good” condition for $45. The blue color scheme goes for $52 in “Used – Very Good” condition and they multiple listings, which could put more price pressure on them.
Philips SHP9500 (or SHP9500s) for $58
It’s back on sale again, but it’s a bit of a Schrodinger’s cat. The Philips SHP9500 open-back over-ear is on sale for $58 with free shipping at NewEgg by NewEgg actual until next Thursday 10/27/16 (or earlier if sold out)… However, some people online (and in the reviews over there) are mentioning that they are receiving the “SHP9500s” (the “s” is part of the model name, it is not plural), so keep that in mind, or check search engines and forums for more…
PS: that is why I keep insisting that a final “s” should never be the last character in a model name!
Bowers & Wilkins P3 for $90 (or $77 with Mobile Checkout)
The new condition closed-back on-ear Bowers & Wilkins P3 headphones are on sale for $90 with free shipping and a limit of five per customer at NewEgg, sold by NewEgg action in the white color scheme or the red color scheme. The sale ends on Monday.
But wait, there’s more! If you are willing to use mobile checkout and enter coupon code MBLB1017 over there, you can get it for 15% off less. With the coupon, the price drops to $76.50. The coupon expires 10/23/16.
UPDATE: if you prefer to go “used”, there are options from $45 to $52 (depending on color option).
Velodyne vLeve On-Ears for $12 w/free S&H
When fashion headphones go out of fashion, their prices crash, which brings us to the Velodyne vLeve On-Ears going for $12 with free shipping at NeweggFlash, their flash sales service to rival Groupon and such. They even have a detachable cable and carrying pouch, so you could almost buy them for the accessories 🙂
Audio Technica ATH-ANC9 ANC for $180
The Audio Technica ATH-ANC9 active noise cancelling headphones go for $200 at most dealers, but for the next seven days you can get them for $180 with free shipping and free returns and a 1-year Audio Technica warranty through Groupon Goods.
These are powered by a single AAA battery, so you have the usual philosophical battery trade-offs. They average 4 out of 5 based on over 280 customer reviews at amazon.com.
PS: these should not be confused with the previously mentioned ATH-ANC7b which go for under $90.
Thinksound ON1 Headphones for $128 [MD]
If you are a fan of wood-headphones, the Thinksound ON1 on-ears are back on offer at members-only Massdrop going for $$120 plus $8~ flat shipping. The offer runs for the next seven days (from today) and will ship in mid-November 2016. Only 40 units are available for this particular drop, so it may sell out before it expires. They come with a 2-year warranty.
[DEAD] Bluedio Vinyl Plus Luxury Bluetooths for $190
These lightning deals expired…
[DEAD] Turtle Beach Ear Force i60 Wireless Gaming Headset for $99
This daily deal expired… The Meh daily deal for Saturday is the Turtle Beach Ear Force i60 Wireless Gaming Headset offered for $94 plus $5 flat shipping (or free shipping if you are a paying member). This is model TBS-7020-01.
Refurbished MEE Audio Matrix2 AF62 Bluetooth for $50
The new condition MEE Audio Matrix 2 AF-62 bluetooth headphones go for $61 in new condition at recognizable dealers (eg amazon.com), but if you prefer to save some more, you can get it for $50 with free shipping in manufacturer refurbished condition with a 90 day warranty by the official MEE Audio eBay store. Limit five units per customer.
These are bluetooth 4.0 headphones with AAC and apt-X codecs, with NFC (handy for easier pairing if you mix and match multiple sources and headsets in the same vicinity). It has a built-in battery and can also play music via standard 3.5mm audio cables.
Audio Technica M30X for $50
eBay action now, seller “BluCoil” (99.2%, New Jersey) is offering the new condition closed-back over-ear Audio Technica M30X headphones for $50 with free shipping with a limit of five units per customer. Model-wise these are a step below the M40x which is developing its own counter-culture hype-train after the M50x hype train started deflating (or something like that).
[DEAD] Back In-Stock: Focal Elear for $1000
AS of 10/21/16 re-check, these sold out again… For future updates, check the brand new Headphone Tracker…
and if you are looking for the new Focal Elear, we have some good news for you. As of the time of writing, there are two units in-stock for $1000 with free shipping by AudioLAB thru Amazon. These ships directly from AudioLAB, so they are not Prime eligible… Yesterday the brown color of the Sony MDR-1000X was in-stock but as of this update, it has gone out of stock…
If you have any headphones you are interested and you want me to track them, please leave a comment or use the contact form. Twitter account coming during the weekend.
New Headphone Tracker (frequently updated post)
This is the Headphone Tracker. We use it to track new headphone releases and hard to find products (eg, ones that go in and out of stock every few days/weeks). Actual release dates are hard to come by most of the time. I am trying to keep this at a manageable size, both in terms of you being able to read it and me being able to update it frequently 🙂 If you have any ideas or suggestions or feedback please leave a comment or use the contact form or ask on our brand new Twitter account.
LATEST UPDATE on 2/4/17 – added some of the most interesting of the headphones announced at CES 2017. Many of them don’t even have pre-orders at the moment…
PS: if you want to check for the latest arrivals one by one, check the New Arrivals posts category.
| Type | In-Stock | Pre-Order | Unavailable |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVER-EARS Over $300 |
Blue Ella Focal Elear |
Blue Sadie | AT ATH-DSR9BT AT ATH-DSR7BT AT ATH-SR9 Blue Satellite Hifiman Edition 6 Monster Elements Sennheiser HD1* Sony MDR-Z1R |
| OVER-EARS $200 to $300 |
Monolith M560 | Klipsch Heritage Sony XB950 N1 Sony XB950 B1 Monolith M1060 (Feb 24) |
|
| OVER-EARS Under $200 |
Sony XB550AP Sennheiser HD 4.50 BT NC Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT |
||
| ON-EARS | Sennheiser HD1* AT ATH-AR3BT AKG N60 BT Monster Elements |
||
| IN-EARS | Jaybird X3 AU iSine 10 AU iSine 20 |
Apple Earpods AU iSine 10 (L) AU iSine 10 VR AU iSine 20 (L) |
AT ATH-CKR100iS AT ATH-LS400i AT ATH-LS300iS Hifiman RE-2000 Hifiman RE-800 1More Quad Beyerd Xelento Remote Ultimate Ears UE 18+ PRO Sennheiser HD1 BT Monster Barflinks Beats X RHA CL1 RHA CL750 |
| DAC, AMP, DAP, PAD | Fiio X5 III Shure Lightning Hifiman EF1000 Chord Hugo 2 Chord Poly Walkman NW-WM1Z Walkman NW-A30 Sony TA-ZH1ES RHA Dacamp L1 |
||
| GAMING | BeyerD CUSTOM BeyerD MMX30 II Logitech G553 |
Massdrop x HiFiMAN HE-350 for $100 [MD]
It’s back on again! And it’s still $100. The Massdrop x HiFiMAN HE-350 headphones are fully unlocked over there, going for $100 with free shipping, with an early November 2016 shipment estimate. Shipments will arrive from Massdrop. There is no mention of warranty in the listing. There are eight days left in this offer (from blog-posting date here). The HE-350 is based on the HE-300 and it’s another one of Massdrop’s growing list of exclusive and custom headphones.
[SOLD OUT] Back In-Stock: Focal Elear for $999
As of a 10/19/16 re-check, this one sold-out: We have another Bigfoot sighting, the brand new Focal Elear are in-stock and ready to ship, with one unit available, for $999 with free shipping by AudioLab thru Amazon. This ships directly from AudioLAB, so it is not Prime eligible.
PS: also in-stock are the Focal Utopia for their price of $4000, these ones by Gramophone thru Amazon, again, shipping directly from the seller, so they are not Prime eligible.
PS2: some crackpot theorists suggest the Utopia was created to drive up sales for the Elear 🙂
Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7B ANC for $89 [limit 5]
One of the “alternative to Bose” active noise cancelling headphones that are sometimes mentioned in recommendation lists are the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7B and they are currently on sale for $89 with free shipping with a limit of five units per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual. They average 3.7 out of 5 based on 1900+ customer reviews and have 99 answered questions. The ANC circuit is powered by one AAA battery, so it becomes a plus or minus depending how you plan to use them and whether you already have a rotation of rechargeable or single-use AAA batteries.
(ENDED) Monday’s Offers: MEE S6 In-Ears, Bluedio, JBL, etc
These Monday limited-time offers are over…
Shipping Now: Closed-Back version of Sennheiser HD 598 (CS)
We have another new headphone arrival! If you are among the boldly-going early-adopters and willing to pay full price and not wait for future discounts, the brand new closed-back version of the Sennheiser HD 598, the CS (CS = Closed), is now in-stock and ready to ship for $250 at Amazon by Amazon actual. Two cables are included, one with a 1-button remote, and another without.
Ultrasone PRO550 Closed for $95 after $15 MIR
If you are a fan of Ultrasone and mail-in rebates (MIR), good until 10/26/16 you can get the new condition closed-back foldable Ultrasone PRO550 headphones for $95 after a $15 mail-in rebate at Adorama.com. More details on the MIR inside this PDF file.
While there, they are offering the new condition Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd Gen 2 Input/4 Output USB 2.0 Audio Interface with 2x Scarlett Mic/Instrument Preamplifiers for $149 with free shipping until 10/25/16. Audio interfaces are of interest if you need to make use of them for their intended purposes. If you have no intended-use for them, you are probably better off getting dedicated headphone DACs and AMPs and DAPs.
NOTE: orders placed between now and 10/25/16 will begin shipping on 10/26/16. They are closed for religious holidays.
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Over-Ears for $244
If you need to get a Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ears headphone right now and don’t want to wait for the holiday shopping season madness to begin, the black color scheme with the Apple iOS buttons is going for $244 with free shipping with a limit of five per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual. For the price, you can alternately get Two On-Ears!
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 On-Ear for $120+ (iOS) or $132+ (non-iOS)
The black color scheme of the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 On-Ears with the Apple/iOS remote control is now down to $120 with free shipping with a limit of five units per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual. The brown goes for $132, and the others go for more.
On the non-iOS front (they call it “Galaxy” but they mean Android, Windows Phone, etc), the lowest price is $132 for the black color scheme with a limit of five. the other colors go for more.
PS: the iOS/Android difference is in the remote control buttons, especially the Volume Up/Down buttons. The basic play/pause buttons typically work on most non-iOS devices/app combos. Next and Previous track is more nebulous. They come with detachable cables so if you have a compatible cable from another Sennheiser headphone (or can find one at a good price), then you can switch iOS/Android cables depending on your music source device.
[DEAD] B&O PLAY Beoplay H6 Over-Ears for $180 [ends 11pm ET]
This limited time sale sold-out before the planned 6-hour offer expired…
Massdrop x AKG K7XX Red Edition for $200
If you like tasteful red in your open-back headphones, the Massdrop x AKG K7XX Red Edition is back on again, going for $200 with free shipping with a late October 2016 shipping estimate. This is done in co-operation with AKG, so you get a 2-year AKG warranty. Offer ends in about seven days from today (= blog-posting date). A total of 190 units are available as part of this promotion and they are individually serialized (see picture #2 in the gallery over there for the number). I’m assuming the first song to hear on these is Chris deBurgh’s “Lady in Red”? 🙂
[DEAD] Thursday’s Offers: Bowers & Wilkens P5, B&O Play H6, Monoprice, Etc
These offers expired…
Refurbished Sony MDR-XB450AP/B Extra Bass for $35
Among the Woot daily deals good until 1am ET on Thursday are the refurbished Sony MDR-XB450AP/B Extra Bass headphones going for $30 plus $5 flat shipping. Limit three units per customer. You only pay five bucks for shipping no matter how many things you buy from Woot on a particular calendar day (in the Central time zone). They come with a 90-day Woot warranty per the listing. These are closed, wired, on-ears.
HifiMan Edition S Open/Closed for $185 Used or $195 Store Demo w/full warranty
Both open-box and used prices dropped since we mentioned this last in late September 2016, “this” being the HifiMan Edition S Open/Closed headphone. The new condition price at authorized dealers is $250 however if you want to save you can get it for (with free shipping):
+ $195 in Store Demo condition with full warranty by Razor Dog Audio on eBay (100%, ships from MN)
+++ updated with new eBay listing
+ $185 in “Used – Very Good” condition by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual (two listings)
[DEAD] Wednesday’s Offers: House Of Marley, GoGroove, Etc
These daily deals expired…
Beyerdynamic Custom Street On-Ears drops to $57
The price of the black color scheme of the Beyerdynamic Custom Street On-Ears jumped to $80, but the white color scheme is dropping in price, you can now get it for around $57 at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of three per customer. It has a detachable cable with a 1-button remote.
You can see what’s included with it in our Text and Pictures unboxing and see how it’s doing in a developing in-progress diary-style review (latest updates go on top).
[DEAD] Audeze SINE On-Ears and iFi Micro-iCAN SE for $500
This sale ended… A new headphone bundle, good until 10/18/16 at Adorama.com is the Audeze SINE On-Ears (planar magnetic) bundled with the iFi Micro-iCAN Headphone Amplifier (Special Edition) together going for $500 with free shipping. No coupon, no rebate, just add to cart and proceed to checkout. They are authorized dealers for both.
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