KZ ZST PRO In-Ears w/mic-remote for $12

As of the time of writing Amazon USA has over 8900 overstock new condition items listed at their Outlet store. You can check by categories. Yes, there is a headphones category…

And among them you can find a name-brand Chi-Fi option 🙂 It’s the new condition KZ ZST PRO in-ears in the purple color scheme going for $12. This is the mic/remote option with one dynamic and one balanced armature, on sale only in the purple color scheme.

This is sold by the KZ Amazon shop, with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so Prime members get it with free 2-day shipping. Non-members have to reach the $25+ total for free shipping…

You can buy as many as you want. This is not a daily deal…

Google Pixel Buds (1st gen) for $59

Good until Saturday 1/30/21 at 11:59pm eastern, B&H Photo offering the new condition black color scheme of the Google Pixel Buds for $59 with free US shipping… These are kinda getting lost in the Airpods and Galaxy Buds hype ~ just like the Pixel phones *ZING* 🙂

Having said that, these are necklace-style bluetooth earphones, not truly-wireless…

Thursday: Yamaha EPH-100 in-ears for $50

Back to the earphone action at the Newegg deals of the day, this set of offerings is good until Thursday 11:59pm pacific time (1/21/21) as follows:

+ Yamaha EPH-100 in-ears for $50

+ refurbished Jabra Elite Active 75t for $100

Meanwhile the teasers for Friday include the KEF Porsche Design Motion One neckband-style bluetooth earphones, a Jabra Elite bluetooth on-ears and a 256GB Samsung “orange cream” microSD card… The teasers do not include the sale prices, those get revealed on the day the offers go live on their website…

Saturday: 1More Daily Deals at Amazon!

Good until Saturday 1/16/21 at 11:59pm pacific time, or earlier if sold out, the headliner of the Amazon USA Gold Box deals of the day is a sale of 1More headphones, more specifically five truly-wireless options ($50 to $80) and two neckband bluetooth earphones including the Triple Driver neckband bluetooth earphones going for $60…

Thanks to the thicker neckband, these promise up to seven hours playtime and they support LDAC and AAC. They run bluetooth 4.2…

When the deal went live in the early hours of Saturday the sale also included the wired Piston Fit in-ears in the gray color scheme with $8 for up to four per customer BUT as of the time of writing this sale is over and they all go for $15 each…

Friday: Beyerdynamix Xelento BT IEMs, refurb Sony CH-700N

Not one but TWO name-brand headphones are part of the Friday NewEgg daily deals good until 11:59pm pacific on 1/15/21 or earlier if sold out:

+ new condition Beyerdynamic Xelento bluetooth Tesla in-ears for $575

+ refurbished Sony CH-700N ANC/Bluetooth over-ears for $49
+ sold and shipped by marketplace seller VIP Outlet
+ this is the previous generation model
+ we have a text and pictures unboxing of it right here (PORG not included)…

Monday: Sennheiser Momentum Free bluetooth earphones for $60

Jealous of Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser makes an appearance at the Monday 12/28/20 NewEgg daily deals [CORRECTED LINK!] with the new condition Sennheiser Momentum Free necklace-style bluetooth earphones offered for $60 with free US shipping… Offer ends 11:59pm pacific or earlier if sold out…

Thursday: Shure SE-846 IEMs for $549 (with both BT5 and wired cables)

You want quality name-brand IEMs but can’t decide between bluetooth and wired audio? Well, you can have both until Thursday 12/24/20 at 11:59pm eastern, because B&H Photo is offering as part of their daily deals the new condition Shure SE-846 in-ears for $549 with free US shipping in the “Clear” and “Black” color schemes. The other two color options are NOT on sale.

This Shure kit includes THREE Shure cables:

  • Shure RMCE-UNI universal mic/remote cable
  • Shure EAC-64 MMCX cable
  • RMCE-BT2 bluetooth 5.0 cable

The nice thing with these is that if you have other Shure earphones, you can mix and match their cables, so you could bluetooth-ize an older pair of Shure IEMs [as long as the connectors as compatible]…

The kit also includes a carrying case, the Shure Fit Kit with different types of eartips, adapters and such, a microUSB charging cable, and a 2-year warranty…

Tin Hifi T4 In-Ears for $70 [MD]

David Bowie’s “Tin Machine” may have inadvertently predicted the rise of “Tin” portable audio with the “tin machine, tin machine, take me anywhere” lyrics 😉

Joking aside, the new condition Tin Hifi T4 in-ears are currently on sale for $70 at the Massdrop website. They come with a stylish brown case and six pairs of eartips (some black, some pink).

The shipping estimate is late January 2021, so this is not for holiday shopping gifts for sure! There’s no mention of warranty in the listing…

Starts Sunday 3:39pm ET: KZ ZS10 PRO IEM Lightning Deal

Starting on Sunday 12/20/20 at 3:39pm eastern time, and lasting for a few hours after that, Amazon is planning to have a limited-time lightning deal on the new condition KZ ZS10 PRO IEMs… As of the time of writing there’s also a $5 off clip-on coupon (clip this as soon as you see it because these can come and go with respect to lightning deals)…

Now, keep in mind there are many colors/variants of this on the listing, various colors and with or without a microphone. The actual variant(s) that will be on sale will only be revealed when it goes live over there…

JVC HA-FDX1 dual carbon IEMs for $200 [MD]

In the US market, JVC is not synonymous with audiophile headphones but some companies are sometimes fine with just being “Big in Japan”. The accountants of course are never happy with that, so with all this totally unnecessary paragraph we have…

.. the JVC HA-FDX1 dual carbon in-ears now on-offer for $200 with free US shipping and free US returns at the Massdrop website

This is a “Ready to Ship” product (the artist formerly known as “in-stock drops”), so other things equal, it will ship in about two business days from purchase.

You have a 30-day return window but there’s no mention of warranty in the listing.

The kit includes three removable tuning nozzles, a carrying case, and five different sizes of “Spiral Dot+” eartips. And the earphones of course 🙂 And the removable cable of course 🙂

With three tuning nozzles, some can use the division by three trick to justify the purchase. It’s like paying $66.67 per sound signature 🙂

Sunday: Klipsch R5 Active bluetooth earphones for $20

For some audiophiles, it’s “Beats and Bose they break my bones” but in the second tier of popular (with the common people) headphone makers we find Skullcandy and Klipsch, especially in the earlier days when it was trendy with i-Device crowd. Not sure why I’m writing all this as a preface but…

… good until Sunday 12/13/20 at 11:59pm eastern time [or earlier if and only if it sells out] you can get the new condition Klipsch R5 Active bluetooth necklace-style earphones for $20 with free US shipping at B&H Photo where it is one of their deals of the day…

There is a certain utilitarian aspect to the necklace-style bluetooth earphones, they are easier on the head for half-day sessions (eg watching a class or lots of Zooms/meetings in a row, or listening to audiobooks or long YouTube streams) as opposed to the more clamp-y and heavier over-ears and on-ears…

And with battery life being what it is, you may have to use multiple bluetooth devices, which is not a bad idea: rotate different types of headphones, so your ears are not constantly physically and musically presented with the same thing (eg some earphones, some over/on-ears, some truly-wireless, some clip-ons, etc)…

PS: speaking of clip-ons, this is a must have for every household, the good old $19 Koss KSC-75 clip-ons (no mic/remote)… OR if you want a mic/remote, you can wait until the Massdrop edition returns…

PS2: I am waiting for my Massdrop KSC-75X to arrive, I was planning to do a comparison with my prehistoric KSC-75 [which I rescued from the clearance bin at an office supply store many years ago], but unfortunately the KSC-75 became hyper-partisan [one side does not play music any more], so I have to get/find another KSC-75 to do a comparison 🙂

PS3: in the audiophile world, small differences are often dramatically exaggerated, but on rare occasion dramatic differences do exist. I picked up the Panasonic RP-HS46 closed clip-ons for utilitarian usage, and the difference in music appreciation between them and the open KSC-75 is night and day. Not to spoil any future reviews I may or may not write, but the HS46 are just NO for music. Okay for YouTube and such, but NO for music 🙂 Granted they are around $12 but still…

UPDATE: some head/audio related activity at the Sunday Best Buy website deals du jour:

+ BuddyPhones wired on-ears for kids for $15

+ 1-year prepaid TIDAL Hifi music subscription for $90
+ averages $7.50/month

+ Anker Soundcore Liberty Air X truly-wireless for $80

+ Feed the DAPs and PADs and such: PNY micro-SDXC card sale, from 512GB down to 32GB, with the 256GB Elite X for $35 being the best value for money in terms of GB/$ (like we buy bulk groceries type of thing)

Tuesday: refurbished JBL (five options)

Loved more by the “common people” than the audiophiles/audiophoolz, JBL is often featured in daily deals because “the common people” [not just those in the Blur Pulp song] prefer JBL, Beats, Bose, Skullcandy, Sony, House of Marley, etc 🙂

Which brings us to today’s (12/8/20) daily deals at Woot, it’s a JBL Audio Sale of the factory reconditioned kind that includes eight products, five of which are headphones, three of which are over/on-ears (LIVE 500BT for $40, Tune 600 BT NC for $50, Under Armour Sport Train for $65), and two of which are bluetooth necklace-style earphones of the Under Armour co-branding type ($30 and $40 per pair)… These come with a 1-year JBL warranty…

As a reminder JBL is part of the ever-so-sprawling family that includes AKG and Harman Kardon, under the Note-able and Foldz-able leadership of Samsung 😉

PS: Proposed New Term for convenience: OverOns: an all encompassing term that includes both over-ear and on-ear headphones. Also useful when you can’t tell whether something is over-ear or on-ear, or whether it’s for one reason or another (eg earcup shape/size) somewhere in-between…

Sunday: Roland CS-10EM in-ears for $50

Good until Sunday 12/6/20 at 11:59pm eastern time, B&H Photo is offering as one of their deals du jour, the new condition Roland CS-10EM in-ears for $50 with free US shipping… This average 4.5 out of 5 based on 14 customer reviews as of the time of writing…

UPDATE: among the Best Buy daily deals for Sunday they have the new condition JBL FREE truly-wireless (second generation) for $55 in the black color scheme…

UPDATE #2: a couple of headphone daily deals at the NewEgg shellshockers:

+ MEE EarBoost EB1 necklace-style bluetooth earphones for $13

+ Jabra Elite bluetooth closed-back on-ears for $35

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…

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

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]…

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…

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)

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…

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)…

Noble X Massdrop sale: Universal for $125, Luxe for $45

Curious about the Noble IEMs but don’t want to spend big bucks to get their more high-end options? You are in luck because Massdrop is having a couple of their more affordable options on sale as part of their “Holiday Specials Event”:

+ Noble X Massdrop X Universal IEMs for $125

+ Noble Luxe Massdrop X IEMs for $45

+ they come with free US shipping and free US returns
+ discounted international shipping (but not free)
+ Noble Audio warranty

+ both of these are “in-stock drops” meaning they are available at MD’s warehouse and will ship quickly (COVID delays permitting that is of course implied about everything we say these days)

KZ Singles Day sales

I’m still in the KZ phase of Chi-fi and if you are too, they have plenty of sales with quick-processing (“ships within 24 hours” they claim) and sometimes some freebies (eg extra foam eartips) on various KZ in-ears at Ali Express. The link here points to a search for “KZ ZSN PRO” but you can use their search box or browse around to find your KZ models of interest…

On the other hand, if you prefer faster and less adventurous delivery, the prices are higher but not much higher at Amazon USA

This being singles day and all, it is a bit of a shocker how high the prices of some of the KZs are at Gear Best. Did they have some kind of a falling out? Did they cheat KZ by falling in love with another Chifi manufacturer? 🙂

Thursday: Klipsch Porsche Motion One, Etc

And Klipsch and Porsche! The Klipsch Porche Design Motion ONE neckband bluetooth earphones are on sale for $50 with free US shipping as part of the NewEgg dailies

Meanwhile at the Best Buy dailies there’s a sale on Buddyphone School+ kids closed-back on-ear headphones for $20 in three color options…

PS: the NewEgg teaser for Friday is the Sony WH-1000X3 ANC/bluetooth over-ears. The sale price will be revealed when it goes live on Friday 11/6/20…

Wednesday: Sennheiser and Skullcandy bluetooths

Judging by the increase in headphones in daily deals, mayhaps retailers, marketers and manufacturers have “upgraded” headphones as some of the hot buy items during the 2020 holiday shopping season ~ an with good season given the COVID situation…

As teased yesterday, among the Wednesday 11/4/20 NewEgg daily deals they have the new condition Sennheiser Momentum Free necklace-style bluetooth earphones on sale for $70 with free US shipping…

Staying with Sennheiser, at the Amazon Gold Box they are offering the new condition IE 80S BT earphones for $200 with free US shipping with up to three pairs per customer. These are neckband-style (hardened) with also a hardened earhook mechanism…

And at the budget side of things, at the Best Buy dailies, the headliner is the new condition Skullcandy Sesh Evo truly-wireless for $25…

Monday: Shure SE-535 IEMs (both 3.5mm and BT 5.0 cables) for $199

Second day with a Shure IEM as one of their daily deals at B&H Photo! Today (being Monday November 2nd in 2020) has the new condition Shure SE-535 in-ears with both a 3.5mm and bluetooth 5.0 cables, going for $199 with free US shipping, a 2-year warranty, and a choice of bronze or red color schemes…

In addition to the universal 3.5mm mic/remote cable and the bluetooth 5.0 cable (which also has the battery for the bluetooth hardware ~ obviously) you get various eartips, a carrying case and such. This too is a microUSB-charged bluetooth…

UPDATE: among the Woot dailies is another incarnation of the new condition Master & Dynamic MW07 truly wireless for $80 in the “grey terrazo” color scheme. Interestingly though, this comes with a 90-day Woot warranty (instead of a manufacturer warranty)…

And then at the Best Buy dailies they have another recurring headphone featured in their daily deals, the new condition MEE Matrix Cinema bluetooth/ANC closed-back over-ears for $60…

Sunday: Shure SE-846 w/BT 5.0 cable kit for $549

Want a high-end universal IEM that gives you the option of wired and bluetooth 5.0 playback? Good until Sunday 11/1/20 at 11:59pm eastern time (yes, you get an extra hour to decide because of the “Fall Back” DST temporal thing), you can get the new condition Shure SE-846 w/BT 5.0 cable kit for $549 with free US shipping at B&H Photo in your choice of the CLEAR or the black color schemes. The other two color schemes (bronze, blue) are special order and are not on sale.

This kit includes both the Shure universal mic/remote cable (RMCE-UNI in Shure speak) and the Shure bluetooth 5.0 cable/adapter (RMCE-BT2 in Shure speak), a premium carrying case, various small headphone-y accessories (eartips, shirt clip, etc), and a 2-year warranty… The charging of the bluetooth 5.0 cable/adapter happens via micro-USB (charging cable is included)…

UPDATE: under “Electronics” at the Woot offers for Sunday they have the refurbished Bose Soundsport bluetooth earphones for $63 in your choice of three color schemes. These come with a 90-day iCertify warranty…

And at the Best Buy dailies they have the new condition Jaybird Tarah necklace-style bluetooth earphones going for $30…

Wedn: Sennheiser CX 2.00i Earphones (iOS) for $15

If you are looking for iOS buttons on a basic earphone from a name brand company, good until 10/28/20 at 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out) is the new condition Sennheiser CX 2.00i going for $15 with free USA shipping at B&H Photo, available in two color schemes. The Android version is not on sale.

All together these average, as of the time of writing, 4 out of 5 based on 50 customer reviews. While these are not earbuds in the classical sense, I hesitate to call them in-ears as well since they are of the stubby kind. I’ll leave the full debate on what to call them to the various forums after they get tired of hyping the all new Sennheiser HD 560S. Good thing I didn’t order the HD 6XX or the 598 Jubilee 🙂

Thursday: NuForce BE Sport3 bluetooth earphones for $10

Thursday 10/22/20 is here and with it we have a $10 bluetooth earphone as one of the B&H daily deals, it is the new condition NuForce BE Sport3 bluetooth earphones going for $10 with free US shipping.

This is in the gunmetal color scheme. It is necklace-style, with earhooks and double-flanged eartips. As of the time of writing it averages 4 out of 5 based on 18 customer reviews…

UPDATE: meanwhile at the NewEgg dailies of Thursday you can get the new condition Sennheiser HD 2.30G closed-back on-ears on sale for $30 with free US shipping, sold and shipped by NewEgg actual…

Wedn: Sennheiser IE 80S bluetooth in-ears for $200

Sennheiser too is joining the Wednesday 10/21/20 daily deals party, this time at Amazon with the new condition IE80S BT bluetooth in-ears going for $200 with free US shipping with up to three per customer at the sale price. These have some kind of an over-earlobe earhook and they are neckband-style (the hardened type, not the ones with a loose cable that hangs on your neck like a necklace)…

Also part of the Wednesday daily deals, this time at Best Buy’s you can get the new condition Beats Studio 3 ANC/bluetooth closed-back over-ears for $250…

Starts Wedn 12:30pm ET: Shure KSE1500 (or KSE1200) Electrostatic Earphone System

Wednesday is Day #2 of the Amazon USA Prime Day and sometimes it does pay to dig through the “Upcoming” lightning deals, because what a surprise for audiophiles! Starting on Wednesday 10/14/20 at 1230pm eastern time, they will have a lightning deal on the new condition Shure KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System. The price before the sale is $2999.

This is not a Prime-only deal, but it is a Prime Early Access, which means Prime members can buy it at 12:30pm ET at the sale price, while non-Prime-members can buy it starting at 1pm ET. I doubt something so niche within a niche will sell out within half an hour, so you should have plenty of time to get it if you are not a Prime member.

BUT if you are worried, you can start a 30-day Free Prime Trial and buy it right away when it goes live…

Note that on the same listing there’s the KSE1200 which has a price of $1999 before the sale. Sometimes a lightning deal teaser shows the “root” item of a multi-item listing, instead of the item that will be on sale.

In other words, the KSE1500 will most likely be the one on sale, but there’s also a chance it will be the KSE1200, and an even smaller chance that it might be both…

Note also that the lightning deal teasers do not say which one will be the seller of the deal. In this case, Amazon actual and marketplace sellers are offering the KSE1500, while the KSE1200 is only offered by a marketplace seller.

EU: Focal Spark In-Ears for 19 euro

This is not a Prime Deal, anyone can buy it, I run into it while surfing around looking for Prime Day deals. Illel Hifi of Paris through Amazon France is offering the silver color scheme of the Focal Spark in-ears in new condition for 19 euro. The other colors go for more.

Sunday: Libratone Q Adapt In-Ears for $34 [USB-C or Lightning]

If you are a fan of the Libratone Q Adapt earphones, things are not so meh on Sunday 10/11/20, because the MEH deal du jour for today until 11:59pm ET are the aforementioned in-ears going for $34 in your choice of Lighting or USB-C connector. Shipping is free if you are a paying Meh mehmber 🙂

Meanwhile at the Woot dailies, there’s a sale of Klipsch and Jamo speakers and soundbars, a total of 18 options with prices ranging from $50 to $300.

Back to the daily deals once again [because of the Holiday season some of the daily deals at Adorama repeat] are the new condition semi-open studio headphones that go by the name AKG K240 II, although their new formal name might be “Samsung Harman Kardon AKG” 😉

Thursday: Beyerdynamic Xelento bluetooth IEMs for $619

The Beyerdynamic x NewEgg bromance continues with a new offering among their Thursday October 8 in 2020 Newegg daily deals, it is the new condition Xelento Wireless Tesla earphones going for $619 with free US shipping, sold and shipped by NewEGG actual, with up to ten per customer at the offer price…

Elsewhere, under the Electronics daily deals at the Woot site they have a Victoria bluetooth vinyl record-players from $65 to $95, and they have a Spin-Clean vinyl-record washers for $64 to $114. Just don’t put them in the clothes dryer 😉

Coming back in their daily deals at Adorama is the new condition semi-open over-ear AKG K240 Mark II studio headphones for $100 with free US shippings…

Refurbished Bose SoundSport bluetooth earphones for $65

Good until 8am ET on Wednesday as the Musician’s Friend daily deal is the new condition closed-back over-ear Tascam TH-200X headphone for $30 with free US shipping…

Meanwhile Woot is running a Hometober sale that includes the refurbished Bose SoundSport bluetooth earphones going for $65 with a 90-day warranty. These are conventional earphones with insertion and seal, not to be confused with some of their earlier models that protruded inside the earcanal like an Apple “pod” but did not attempt to form any kind of seal…

This particular Woot sale also offers an Altigo bluetooth over/on-ears headphone for $18. This sale ends on October 11 at 11:59pm ET in 2020 ~ or earlier for anything that sells out earlier…

Sunday: refurbished Klipsch S2m In-Ears for $20

If you want to try out Klipsch earphones on the down low, the Sunday 9/6/20 NewEgg deals of the day include the refurbished Klipsch S2m in-ears going for $20 with free US shipping, sold and shipped by NewEgg actual.

What’s included in the refurbished kit is not clear from the listing. It does come with a 90-day warranty and the customary 30-day NewEgg return/replacement policy…