DZAT DF-10 Wood IEMs for $23 shipped [MD]

Wood definitely has its fans with both earphones and headphones, which brings us to this newly unlocked offer at members-only Massdrop, it is the DZAT DF-10 Wood IEMs going for $16 plus $7 flat shipping. You have two wood choices at checkout (pictures of both are shown over there). The offer runs for the next seven days (from blog-posting date), and these will ship mid-October 2016.

One unusual accessory included (although perhaps not so considering the “writing” fandom at Massdrop) is that they come with a nature-themed notebook and pen as well, in addition to different eartip sizes and a pouch. You can always make the notebook and pen “on topic” by using them to record headphone-related notes or music-listening notes or headphone audition notes 🙂

PS: no musical pun intended on “notes” 🙂

September 10, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Sunday’s Offers: Nobsound NS-01E Mini Tube Headphone Amplifier, Etc

These two lightning deals expired…

[Read more…]

September 10, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With:

Onkyo FC300 On-Ears for $40 w/free S&H [two colors]

Onkyo too has an Amazon Storefront and there they offer some of their products. They ship directly from Onkyo USA, so they are not eligible from Prime shipping. Among the specials you can find the closed-back on-ear ES-FC300 going for $40 with free shipping in either the white color scheme or the violet/purple color scheme.

Speaking of which, the price of the following headphones may make you run to the hills, your wallet running for its life, but if you are comfortable with used, instead of paying $300 for new condition, you can instead get them for $224~ in “Used – Good” condition through Amazon Warehouse Deals. These being the Onkyo Iron Maiden Audio ED-PH0N3S, charging the “fandom tax” 🙂

September 9, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 Limited Edition for $130

Beyerdynamic how so many models in the 770-880-990 series, and that’s before you add the various Limited Editions and such. Which brings us to the beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 Limited Edition, in new condition, currently on sale for $130 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual. These are all black.

PS: if you are not familiar with the Beyerdynamic line-up, here’s a quick way to remember which models are open/closed: the higher the number, the more open they are. The DT 770s are closed, the 880s are semi-open, and the 990 are open.

September 9, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

Used Grado SR80e for $74, Used SR125e for $120

Grados go in and out of Amazon Warehouse Deals as people buy/sell/trade return them through Amazon. At the moment the open-back on-ear Used SR80e (“Used – Good”) goes for $74~ through Amazon Warehouse Deals (AWD) actual (not marketplace sellers), while the Used SR125e (“Used – Very Good” goes for $120 by AWD actual. There’s also a listing by a seller with just 1 rating that ends up the same price after shipping but it’s not Prime eligible.

PS: the new condition prices at authorized dealers for these two are $100 and $150 respectively.

September 9, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

AKG M220 Semi-Open Over-Ears for $58 [MD]

This is not a Massdrop exclusive, but they are getting early release supplies, and it is back there and fully unlocked, the semi-open over-ear studio AKG M220 going for $50 plus $8~ flat shipping. There are seven days left in the offer (from blog-posting date) and the orders will begin shipping in early October 2016.

September 9, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Refurbished Harman Kardon SOHO Slim Foldable Mini Headphones for $59.50

This 4-hour offer expired…

[Read more…]

September 9, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Manufacturer Refurbished Sony MDR-1A drops to $150

The last time I posted about the manufacturer refurbished Sony MDR-1A in late August it was going for $180, but as of the time of writing, the price dropped to $150 with free shipping by Secondipity through Amazon Warehouse Deals. It ships directly from Secondipity, so it is not Prime-eligible.

The competing price to the manufacturer-refurbished are new-condition but international versions, imported to the USA without the blessings of Sony USA, so they don’t get their warranty. Their prices too have dropped a bit since, settling around $187 depending on the seller. Check the detailed listings for the either the silver MDR-1A or the black MDR-1A to see all price options.

The new condition price from authorized Sony USA dealers is $300.

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

Beyerdynamic Custom Street On-Ears drop to $83

Another price drop! The black color scheme of the Beyerdynamic Custom Street on-ears is now down to $83 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual. These were one of the Prime Day offers when they had then dropped to $100. The white color scheme remains at $99. This is a sale, not a lightning deal, and the limit is 30 per eBay reseller customer 🙂

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

Used HifiMan HE-400S for $228

The Hifiman HE-400S are currently settled on $228 as a used price at Amazon Warehouse Deals (AWD) among recognizable sellers. Two of the options are Prime eligible (fulfilled by Amazon) by Kraft Street and Audio Advisor (both “Used – Very Good” condition), while Hifi Heaven (authorized dealer) has them in “Used – Like New” but it ships directly from them, not Prime eligible. AWD’s own price is $231.

The planar for mobile/portable use are definitely sustaining their momentum. The OPPO PM-3 is in-and-out of stock but remains at $400, while the used options that remain are only by individuals, none of the usual bigger-sellers have them.

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

Used Fiio EX1 In-Ears for $54

The Fiio EX1 in-ears go for $70 in new condition but if you are comfortable with used in-ears, they are available in “Used – Like New” condition (“includes all accessories in original packaging) for $54 with free shipping by “ProStudio Sound & Music” (100%, 7411/12-months) through Amazon Warehouse Deals. They ship directly from “ProStudio” so they are not Prime eligible. The earphones average 4.4 out of 5 based on 88 customer reviews.

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

Audeze now selling on Amazon (Prime eligible)

Audeze has opened up an Amazon Store front, selling some of their headphones there. Audeze is the seller but the orders are fulfilled by Amazon, so you get free 2-day shipping if you are a Prime member. They currently list seven headphones and two accessories (hard case, adapter). The headphones are variations of the EL-8 and SINE.

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: headphones 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: ,

Nuforce NE IEMs for $44 [MD grab bag]

If you like the unpredictability of grab bags, a brand new one just went live at Massdrop. It features four different NuForce NE IEMs with varying degree of probability. You pay $40 plus $4 flat shipping and you will randomly receive one of those four. Limit two grab bags per customer with a total of 600 units available for this promotion which ends in about 8 days from blog-posting date. The shipment estimate is early October. There are also four “prizes” if certain quantities get purchased, the NuForce uDAC5 and the AKG K7xx headphones.

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Audeze SINE Planar Lightning On-Ears for $379

This limited time sale expired… A new temptation for future iPhone 7 users, the closed-back Audeze SINE planar-magnetic On-Ears with a 24-bit Cypher Lightning cable are on sale for a limited time, in new condition, for $379 with free shipping, from authorized dealer Adorama.com.

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

[DEAD] Friday’s Offers: Harman Soho, Ausdom, LyxPro, Etc

These modest daily deals expired…

[Read more…]

September 8, 2016 Filed Under: headphones

Sennheiser HD 205-II Closed Over-Ears for $40 w/free s&h

Back to eBay, this time it is a new condition headphone, the closed-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 205-II headphones are on sale for $40 with free shipping with a limit of 50 units per customer. The seller is Sonic Electronix (99.2%) with the order shipping from Louisville (KY). Rick Pitino NOT included 🙂

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Refurbished Panasonic RP-BTD5-K Bluetooth On-Ears for $22

The Panasonic RP-BTD5-K Bluetooth On-Ears are currently available in refurbished condition (the listing says they are certified refurbished with a 90 day Panasonic warranty) for $22 with free shipping by AlwaysADeal on Amazon Warehouse Deals. These ship directly from the seller, so they are not Prime eligible, but everyone gets free shipping. They ship from New York and the seller rating is 99% with 4500+ ratings in the last 12 months.

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Used Sony XBA-Z5 In-Ears for $349

The Sony XBA-Z5 In-Ears are currently available in “Used – Like New” condition for $349 with free shipping by Beach Camera thru Amazon. They ship directly from Beach Camera but Prime members will get free 2-day Prime shipping as the Prime logo next to the price suggests. As the BA in the name suggests, these are balanced armature earphones.

sony_z5_beach

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , ,

Market Changing Moment: Apple drops Headphone Jack, launches proprietary (???) Wireless Audio

The September 7 Apple announcement is an important moment in the headphone market. As the rumors suggested, they dropped the headphone port on the new iPhone 7* models in favor of the Lightning port connection, and introduced a new proprietary wireless non-Bluetooth (???) technology for the upcoming $159 AirPods. They also launched new “Beats 3” with Lightning and a new “budget” Beats X line. More details on all those as time goes by, but you can find them summarized at our still-continuing New Headphones Tracking Page.

More on this important subject in the next few days as more details emerge and we digest the details of this new reality…

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: headphones

AudioQuest Dragonfly 1.2 SUB DAC/Amp for $80 [was $75]

Best Buy is back with another headphone-related daily deal, this time their Wednesday headliner deal is the AudioQuest Dragonfly 1.2 SUB DAC/Amp offered for $80 with free shipping or free store pickup.

UPDATE 9/8/16: the daily deal price was $75, but after that it only went up to $80.

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With:

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

These daily offers expired…

[Read more…]

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

[DEAD] Thursday’s Offers: Sennheiser MM60 iP, Sentey, Mpow, Tamo

These lightning offers expired…

[Read more…]

September 7, 2016 Filed Under: headphones

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: , ,

Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO (250 ohm) and Fiio E12 Mont Blanc and Slappa Case and 32GB Sony microSD for $599

The recently released Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO (250 ohm) currently goes for $599 at the few authorized dealers that currently sell it, but one of the retailers is offering it in a loaded bundle for the same price, Beach Camera on Amazon is bundling it with three freebies:

  • Fiio E12 Mont Blanc headphone amp
  • Slappa HardBody PRO headphone case
  • 32GB Sony microSD card

Now the accessories do not necessarily have to be used all together. For example, none of the items included can use a microSD card, but you can use it on your phone, tablet, laptop, etc. The Fiio E12 and the Case can be used with the DT 1990 or any other headphones you have, whichever are the best match for your needs and preferences.

The Fiio E12 goes for around $100 on its own, and the case goes for around $20. You can get a 32GB microSD for around $10 these days, so that’s $130 in freebies while paying the same price.

This bundle gets free 2-day shipping even though it ships directly from Beach Camera. It’s a relatively recent development where Amazon partners with some of the marketplace sellers to encourage them to offer Prime-shipping on select items that ship directly from the seller. This typically happens for more expensive items. You can figure this out by paying attention to the highlighted areas in an Amazon product page such as this (screenshot below):

dt1990_ships_and_sold

September 6, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs, headphones Tagged With: , ,

Pre-order new Beyerdynamic Byron Earphone Trio ($79 to $299)

Beyerdynamic teased these earlier in the summer but they were officially ushered out during IFA 2016 (and I just added them to the ever-growing list of New Headphones there), and they are now available for pre-order at Amazon as follows:

+ Byron (wired in-ear) for $79
+ Byron BT (Bluetooth as the “BT” hints at) for $149
+ Byron BTA (Bluetooth too) for $299

September 6, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , ,

Philips SHS3200 Earhook Earbuds for $6 w/free S&H

This is a “bulk packaging” item per the bottom of the description, marked as “New – Other” condition using the eBay fields over there, it is the Philips SHS3200 Earhook Earbuds going for $6 with free shipping. Limit 50 units per customer. The eBay seller offering these is “Big Deals” (99%, New Jersey). They also have a promotion where if you buy three or more items from them, you get a 5% discount on the current prices.

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

Panasonic RP-HD10C-K Over-Ears for $175

Speaking of not being in a hurry to receive them, the Panasonic RP-HD10C-K closed-back over-ears are on sale for $175 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual, however, they have a nebulous “1 to 4 weeks” shipping estimate, so keep that in mind if you need them right away.

September 6, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

CEntrance DACport Slim (Massdrop Exclusive) for $100

Another Massdrop exclusive product is on sale and fully unlocked, the CEntrance DACport Slim DAC/amp (small USB to 3.5mm device), for $100 with free shipping. There are eight days left on the offer (as of blog-posting date), but note that the shipping estimate is late October 2016, so make sure you don’t need it immediately.

September 6, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With: ,

Pre-order new Sony Signature Series DAP and Amp

In addition to the previously mentioned MDR-Z1R flagship headphone available for pre-order for $2200, Sony has also launched two brand new Signature Series (read four figure prices) DAPs and one new component-size headphone-amp. Two of the three are available for pre-order: the $3200 NW-WM1Z digital audio player and the $2200 TA-ZH1ES headphone amp. They are all marked as “Temporarily Out Of Stock”, so an exact shipment date is unknown at the moment.

These too have been added to our on-going post tracking New Headphones at IFA 2016. And more are coming, not just the ones I have yet to post, but Tuesday is the official announcement of the LG V20 phone with its gazillion-bit DAC, and Wednesday is Apple day, quite possibly an existential crisis day for the 3.5mm headphone output at least when it comes to headphones [more on that later].

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs, digital audio players 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:

Used Sennheiser PXC 550 ANC BT for $320

That didn’t take long. The new Sennheiser PXC 550 active noise cancelling (Noise Gard) with bluetooth headphones go for $400 in new condition, but as of the time of writing, there are multiple listings of them in “Used – Very Good” condition for $320~ by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual. They are running Bluetooth 4.2, with NFC, touch controls, and average 4.4 out of 5 based on 31 customer reviews. They have a built-in battery, rechargeable internally via USB (up to 30 hours the specs say).

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

TEAC HA-P50 Portable Headphone Amplifier for $153 (red)

It’s eBay time now, the official Best Buy store on eBay is offering the new condition red color scheme of the TEAC HA-P50 Portable Headphone Amplifier for $153~ with free shipping, with a limit of three per customer.

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With: ,

A-Audio Legacy Noise Cancelling Headphones for $72 to $80

The A-Audio Legacy headphones, with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), are available for $80 with free shipping at Stacksocial. But for a limited time (I do not know when it expires), coupon code BYESUMMER10 gets you 10% off site-wide over there. There are two color-schemes available for it, at the same price. The ANC is powered by two AAA batteries, a plus for fans of rechargeable AAAs, and a minus for fans of built-in lithium ions.

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

[DEAD] Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition for $111 [limit 2]

As of 8:39pm ET re-check, this is sold out by Amazon actual at $111 and it cannot be ordered… Another Sennheiser sale, it is the Special Edition of the open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 598, in new condition, going for $111~ with free shipping with a limit of two per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual. A marketplace seller there is offering it for slightly less ($105), and the order is fulfilled by Amazon, but I do not know if they are an authorized dealer (I’ve never seen that seller name before).

NOTE: there is a quartet of brand new HD 5XX headphones just announced in Berlin at the European IFA trade show.

September 5, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: