The Sub-$100 Legend is Back, sold by Amazon Actual (SHP-9500)

The sub-$100 open-back legend is back sold by Amazon actual, not by marketplace sellers. Yes, it’s the Philips SHP-9500 currently going for $79~, sold and shipped by Amazon.

This headphone went as low as $50 before it had ran out a couple of years ago.

We have a text-and-pictures unboxing of the SHP-9500 purchased before it ran out, somewhere between 2016-2017. “L” is for Left, not for “Loser” 🙂

the earcups

Both this and the Philips X2HR are solidly back in production. The X2HR goes for $175~ by Amazon actual and $150 by a marketplace seller (fulfilled by Amazon, so the risk is reduced).

On the European side of things, it currently goes for $200 euro at Amazon Germany

V-Moda Crossfade Wireless Closed Over-Ears returns to $100

It’s back on sale again, the new condition V-Moda closed-back over-ear Crossfade Wireless (bluetooth but not ANC) is down to $100 with free shipping in all four color schemes by Amazon actual. You can buy as many as you like. It averages 4.2 out of 5 with nearly 800 customer reviews and it has 250+ answered questions and a mutual admiration society at Headfi 🙂

Speaking of V-Moda, their newly released M100 Master over-ears (no bluetooth) is having its first sale at Amazon Germany, a modest drop to 236 euro… On the other side of the pond, there’s no sale, but you can get it in “Used – Very Good” condition for $219~ at amazon.com warehouse deals

Meze x Massdrop Noir 99 Closed Over-Ears for $200

Massdrop strikes again with another “X” offering. Good for the next twenty days (from blog posting time) they are offering the new condition Massdrop x Meze 99 Noir closed-back over-ear headphones for $200 with free US shipping. This being an “X” product, it comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty. Orders will ship in late September 2019 from Massdrop.

The standard package includes a woven-nylon case and an extra set of earpads (the second set, the one not installed on the headphones, has additional damping foam over the driver).

I haven’t used or seen any Meze headphones, so I have nothing to do. But the internets have plenty to add, on the webs and in the forums and there are 115 customer reviews at Massdrop (4.5 out of 5, 83% recommend) and there’s a long discussion of it as well (750+ posts).

DarkVoice 336SE OTL head-amp for $200

Is the name a spoiler for the sound signature? I won’t spoil it but good for the next three days and change [from blog-posting time] is the return of the new condition DarkVoice 336SE OTL head-amp at Massdrop. Orders will ship in late October 2019 from Massdrop. There is no mention of warranty in the product listing. Over 2,600 units have been sold through Massdrop per the statistics shown on the page over there…

1More IEM sale: Dual Driver for $25, Triple Driver for $60

The official 1More store at NewEgg is offering two of their popular earphones on sale as part of the NewEgg After Labor sale. They are:

+ Triple Driver IEMs for $60 in the gold/yellow color scheme

+ Dual Driver IEMs for $25

+ limit up to 20 units of each per customer

IF earphones were groceries, the Dual driver goes for $12.50 per kilo driver, while the Triple driver goes for $20 per pound driver 🙂

Koss KHP30iw lightweight on-ears for $20 [MD]

And now an “appetizer headphone”, for just $20, for the next six days and change [from blog-posting time] you can get the new condition lightweight Koss KHP30iw on-ears at the Massdrop website.

Despite the retro looks, this headphone has a mic/remote. It is available in two color schemes, with the beige (the one being featured in most of the product page) being the nicer ~ although that is subject to individual taste and opinion…

This being part of the Koss-Massdrop relationship, it comes with the customary Koss limited lifetime warranty. Orders will ship in late September 2019 from Massdrop.

Tuesday daily deals: B&O H9i, MEE Audio M6 II In-Ears, SoundMagic PL30+, 256GB Samsung microSD, Etc

We have some broader action with the Tuesday daily deals at various websites as follows:

+ at Best Buy, they offer the new condition B&O H9i ANC/bluetooth over-ears for $350 with free shipping or free store pickup (where possible) in the “Natural” color scheme

+ at NewEgg, they want to feed your DAPs and PADs, coupon code 92RDX3 gets you the 256GB Samsung EVO micro SDXC card for $38

+ at the Amazon Headphones Lightning deals, the following recognizable earphones are scheduled to go live during Tuesday:

+ starts 12:10pm ET: Symphonized Wraith 2.0 Wood Bluetooth Over-Ears (price before sale $73; there’s also a $5 off clip-on coupon on the listing)

+ starts 8:55pm ET: MEE Audio M6 PRO 2nd Generation (price before sale $39~)

+ starts 9:10pm ET: SoundMAGIC PL30+ Active Sport In-Ears (price before sale $24)

+ and of course throughout the day, it’s full of truly wireless and necklace (and some neckband) style earphones; oh, there’s also a cat-ears on-ear headphone (presumably for kids (of all ages?)? )

Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO (250 ohm) with Slappa Case and Wooden Stand for $450

Also part of the previously mentioned eBay labor day festivities, BuyDig (the online presence of Beach Camera from the East Coast) is offering a new condition bundle, the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO (250 ohm) open-back over-ear headphones bundled with the Slappa hardbody Pro full size headphone case and the Deco Gear wooden omega-shaped (as in the letter omega) stand, all together for $449 with free US shipping.

Don’t forget to use as part of your payment any eBay Bucks, personal eBay coupons and PayPal credits you may have…

eBay headphone sale: refurb Bose QC35 I w/warranty for $199 [and more]

EBay is running its own Labor Day sales and of headphone interest, they have 41 products under the headphones and accessories category including:

+ factory renewed BOSE QC 35 first generation closed-back over-ear ANC & bluetooth for $199 with free shipping from the official Bose eBay store with a 1-year BOSE warranty and original packaging; available in black only; limit up to five per buyer; over 5600 units sold so far;

+ factory renewed BOSE QC30 neckband bluetooth earphones for $140 (likewise as above)

+ Jabra Elite 65e for $40, Active for $100

+ Bluedio Hi truly wireless for $15 [over 6100 units sold]

+ Sony WH-1000X Mark III for $275 from RedTag Camera; almost certain this is an international/import as there is no mention of Sony warranty on the listing; it would have been nice if sellers were honest to mention this prominently on the listing so the consumer can make an informed decision

+ iPod Nano 7s, iPod Touch 4th gen for $30 to $75, Skullcandy Crusher 360s, Bluedios, etc

NOTE: Many years ago I purchased an original new condition iPod Touch 4 and over time upgraded it to the latest allowable iOS version. Fast forward to the latest (and last) iOS upgrade, it became a total slugfest with crashings and such. Half of the music apps could not be installed because it had an old iOS version [thankfully I had some already installed]. And its battery performance was a total disaster. So keep that in mind…

Monoprice Triple Driver IEMs for $30 w/FS

On the budget side of triple driver IEMs, with a reasonable 4.3 out of 5 based on 99 customer reviews, the Monoprice website is offering the new condition Triple Driver IEMs for $30 with free standard US shipping. No coupon needed but it is a limited time sale. It has a 1-button remote/mic and thankfully the “XXX” has been removed from its name 🙂

Speaking of Monoprice, they are offering the new condition M565 planar open over-ears for $170 with free US shipping…

Monday: Sony Xperia Ear Duo truly wireless for $120 [L600 cinematic for $200]

Good until Monday 9/2/19 at 11:59pm eastern time, as one of the deals du jour at New York’s B&H Photo and Video, you can get the new condition Sony Xperia Ear Duo truly-wireless earphones for $120 with free US shipping in your choice of two color options.

Sony is also part of the Woot daily deals, their new condition WH-L600 Digital Wireless headphones go for $200 with free shipping for Prime members or $6 flat shipping for the rest of us mere mortals. They come with a 1-year Sony warranty and you can buy up to ten pairs per customer…

UPDATE: but wait, there’s more! Starting at 3:55pm eastern today [Monday 9/2/19] there is going to be a lightning deal on the Amazon Gold Box for this Sony WH RF400R bundle that includes the transmitter dock (TMRRF400) and cables/adapters. The price before the sale is $97. This is a marketplace seller offering it, with the order fulfilled by Amazon. They are the only ones offering this kit for sale, so they will almost certainly be the ones offering the lightning deal…

The above two are different models from the first headphone I “awarded” with the prestigious “Headphones to Avoid” award, the Sony RF-995-RK wireless… I haven’t seen or used the above two, so I can’t compare them…

Surprise Massdrop Combo: Sennheiser HD6XX _AND_ Sony WH-1000X M3 for $400 TOTAL

Well this is a surprise and a temptation that may be hard to resist for practical audiophiles. For $400 at the Massdrop website, you get two headphones, the audiophile-loved open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD-6XX, AND the utilitarian Sony WH-1000X M3 closed-back over-ear with bluetooth and ANC.

And better yet, both headphones come with a warranty. The HD-6XX comes with a 2-year manufacturer warranty, and the Sony WH-1000X M3 comes with a 1-year Sony warranty per the listing over there.

This is a pre-order with two days left to purchase (as of the time of writing of this post). The orders will ship mid-September from Massdrop.

PS: if you only want one of the two, you can always gift or sell or trade the other one. Or you can send it to me LOL 🙂

15% off Audio & Sound gear with Stacksocial coupon

For a limited time, most likely part of the Labor Day festivities, coupon code SAVE15SOUND gets you 15% off the audio and sound gear at the Stacksocial website

Monoprice Retro closed over-ears for $26 w/FS

If you don’t want to wait for the Samson and Superlux variants to go on sale on their own, Monoprice is here to help because their website is offering the new condition Monoprice Retro closed over-ear headphones for the very specific price of $25.69 with free US standard shipping for a limited time only.

The headphones average 4.5 out of 5 based on 160+ customer reviews at the Monoprice website. I haven’t looked for comparisons between these and the Superlux/Samson variants, so your favorite forum and search engine are your friends…

NOTE that their non-detachable cable is nearly 10 feet long (three meters)…

For the speed readers out there, this is the closed back model. Not to be confused with a semi-open variant. We have a text-and-pictures unboxing here of the semi-open model, the Samson SR-850. A closer look at the earcup shells easily distinguishes the closed from the semi-open…

And with all that, we reach the conclusion of this blog post 🙂

Friday: SteelSeries Arctis 5 (2019 Edition) for $69

A computer gaming sale is the theme of the day for Friday 8/30/19 at the amazon.com Gold Box daily deals and of headphone interest, they are offering the new condition SteelSeries Arctis 5 (2019 Edition) for $69 with free shipping in the black color scheme with up to two pairs per customer at the sale price. This is an RGB Illuminated Gaming Headset with DTS Headphone:X v2.0 Surround and it can be used on PCs and PlayStation 4.

NOTE that when you are reading the customer reviews, you have to dig inside and filter them for this particular model because on the same root Amazon product page they have a a variety of other Arctis gaming headset models…

Thursday’s Feed the DAPs with 256GB Sandisk microSD for $30 and more

We have another “daily deals edition” of “Feed the DAPs”. It’s a computer accessories sale at Amazon USA’s Gold Box running for Thursday August 29 in 2019 and it is headlined by a FLAC hungry 256GB Sandisk ULTRA microSD card going for $30 (up to two per customer). There’s also a 512GB version for $80, but as you can tell from the numbers, the 256GB wins on bang for the buck…

Also part of the sale are external hard drives from Toshiba and Western Digital ranging from 2TB to 10TB and for the speed-hungry there’s a 500GB Sandisk Extreme PRO external SSD with a USB-C connector.

There’s also a variety of 2-in-1 style laptops and monitors and a few other accessories.

And of on-topic interest, the new condition SteelSeries Arctis 3 Console (2019 Edition) goes for $49 with up to two per customer at the sale price…

Thursday: Bang & Play H8i Closed ANC/BT On-Ears for $300

It’s back on again, mayhaps Best Buy has a special relationship with Bang & Olufsen because the BeoPlay H8i headphone (closed-back, on-ear, bluetooth, ANC) is back on sale again for $300 with free shipping at the Best Buy website for Thursday 8/29/19…

KEF Porsche Design Space One for $150

New Egg is having a bit of an early Labor Day sale with some headphones included. There are many “Fuji Labs” earphones participating but the headliner is the new condition KEF Porsche Design Space One closed-back bluetooth over/on-ears [can’t tell from the pictures] going for $150 with free shipping. The sale is good until next Monday Sept 2, 2019…

Starts Wedn 10:25am ET: refurb Beats Solo 2

According to the Amazon Gold Box teasers, starting at 10:25am eastern on Wednesday 8/28/19 there’s going to be a lightning deal on the renew (refurbished) Beats Solo 2 on-ears. This is available in three different colors. I don’t know which color(s) will be on sale. Their prices before the sale range from $89 to $109. I do not know what the sale price will be ~ it will be revealed for all to see when the offers go live…

Shortly after that, starting at 11:10am, there’s gonna be a lightning deal on the new condition Symphonized NRG 3.0 in-ears with the price before the sale being $22 for five of the six color schemes. They average 4.2 out of 5 based on over 2700 customer reviews. I don’t have this particular model but we have a text-and-pictures unboxing of the NRG 2.0 model

And if you are a fan of truly wireless, all kinds of them are running throughout the day. You can see them all at the Headphone Lightning Deals

Wedn: Sony WF1000X/BM1 Truly Wireless for $70

It’s truly wireless time on Wednesday as one of the Woot deals of the day with the new condition Sony WF1000X/BM1 going for $70 with free shipping for Prime or $6 flat for non-Primes. You can buy up to ten units per shopping cart at the sale price. They come with a 1-year Sony warranty…

I don’t have a lot of experience with truly-wireless [battery life being one of the scarecrows] so I can’t tell you much about it ~ the only truly wireless I’ve used is the Jaybird Run

Tuesday: refurb Logitech G933 Artemis for $60

Good until Tuesday at 11:59pm central time (or earlier if it manages to sell out ahead of time) you can get the factory reconditioned Logitech G933 Artemis gaming headset for $60 with free shipping for Prime members or $6 flat shipping for non-members. Limit up to ten pairs per customer at the sale price. They come with a 90-day Logitech warranty…

$5 off coupon: Linsoul KZ ZS10 IEMs

When you are logged on to your Amazon account, you can clip a $5 off “green” coupon to your account for various colors and options of the new condition Linsoul KZ ZS10 in-ears, a 5-driver model with four balanced armatures and one dynamic.

They have detachable 2-pin cables. Their prices hover around $50 as of the time of writing depending on color/option. The option is with or without a mic/remote. They average 4.6 out of 5 based on 101 customer reviews and they have 21 answered questions…

Monday: Razer Gaming Headsets and Hammerhead in-ears

It’s Razer day at the Woot daily deals for Monday 8/26/19 with a number of gaming products including the following headphone-related items:

+ Hammerhead bluetooth earphones for $60, for iOS for $74
+ these are multiple-flanged, so keep that in mind if you like or don’t like this style of in-ear insertion

+ four over/on-ear headsets ranging from $48 (D.Va Meka) to $120 (Tiamat 7.1 V2) with the Man-O-War TE for $60 and the Kraken Pro V2 for $64 in-between.

All these are new condition with a 2-year Razer warranty.

PS: speaking of gaming, there’s a clearance sale on MSI computers in the “Computers” Woot daily deal…

Thursday (starts 9:20am ET): HifiWalker A1 and A2 Gold Box offers

If you are a fan of the Hifi Walker brand and want to get them with Amazon Prime shipping (instead of waiting for the tall chi-fi ships to arrive), then today, Thursday August 22 in 2019 there are two Gold Box Lightning Deals scheduled on them as follows:

+ starts 9:20am ET: Hifi Walker A1 in-ears
+ price before the sale is $24~

+ starts 9:40am ET: Hifi Walker A2 in-ears
+ price before the sale is $23~

Dekoni Blue Fostex Planar Semi-Open Over-Ears for $180 [MD]

Fostex the People! The Massdrop offer on the new condition Fostex Dekoni Blue planar magnetics for $180 with free US shipping is nearing the end of this cycle at Massdrop. This is yet another variant of the good old Fostex T50RP Mark III, a fookin’ legend in Flea Bottom at HeadFi’s Landing 😉 The package includes an extra set of earpads, so you get one set of hybrids and one set of velour.

The orders will ship in mid-September 2019 from the vendor. There is no mention of warranty in the listing.

As a refresher, the Fostex T50RP-III and subsequently this variant are semi-open headphones…

Wedn: Jabra Elite Active 65t truly wireless for $90

Good until Wednesday at 8/21/19 at 11:59pm central time (or earlier if sold out), Woot is offering as one of their daily deals the new condition Jabra Elite Active 65t truly wireless for $90 with free shipping for Prime members or $6 flat for all calendar-day purchases per customer. Up to ten units per customer during this sale. They come with a 90-day Woot warranty, not a 1-year manufacturer warranty.

Tin Audio T3 IEMs for $60 [MD]

I’ve fallen behind on the latest Massdrop offerings, and since I can’t post them all at once, I’m starting with something small (in-ears) and reasonably priced ($60) and popular with Massdrop shoppers (over 2,500 units sold). It is the new condition Tin Audio T3 IEMs going for $60 with free US shipping.

IT comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty and will ship in late August from Massdrop. This has MMCX connectors.

Monoprice Summer Clearance with FREE US shipping: Protein Leather Pads for $10, M600 Open Over-Ears for $60, Monolith Tube amp for $280, Electrostatic Headphone + Amp for $350, Etc

The Monoprice Overstock sale has some potentially interesting offerings for headphone fans as well. A total of seven options show when you filter for headphones including:

+ Memory Foam Protein Leather earpads for $10

+ MP20 in-ears for $12

+ M600 open-back dynamic over-ears for $60

+ M1060 planar open over-ears for $250

+ monster-sized Monolith Tube amplifier for $280

+ Electrostatic headphone with dedicated amplifier for $350

+ the M300 planar earphones go for $100 [corrected typo] which was their previous price

+ find them all in the Headphones Clearance page

All the items mentioned above come with free US standard shipping during this promotion. No coupon is needed. When the free shipping offer ends, it will simply stop being mentioned at the individual Monoprice product pages.

Now shipping: Monoprice multi-driver IEMs including the Quintet

The “Driver Wars” did not fail to gain traction at the Monoprice website and now they have up to five drivers in their latest in-ears. The Quintet (five drivers per side as the name suggests) goes for $80, the Quartet goes for $60, and the Trio goes for $50.

That’s about $16 per driver because headphone drivers are just like buying groceries by the pound or storage by the gigabyte 🙂

These have a detachable cable and they are new enough they don’t have any customer reviews on the Monoprice website. This is the first time I’ve heard of these, so I know nothing Jon Snow about them 🙂

Speaking of which, this is a handy link, it shows the last new products to hit the Monoprice online store. This is all products, not audio-related only…

Music Software return in PWYW Humble Bundle

If you are a fan of “pay what you want” promotions, the Humble Bundle is back with their MAGICX Music Software sale for the next eight days (as of the time of writing of this post).

+ paying $1+ gets you one software title: Music Maker (EDM Edition).

+ paying $16+ (beating the average) gets you two additional software titles: ACID Music Studio 10 and MP3 Deluxe 19

+ paying $25+ gets you three additional titles: Sound Forge PRO 10, ACID PRO 8, and Soundpool (Electric Trap)

Check the listing over there for terms and conditions and restrictions and things of that nature…

Monday (starts 6:49pm ET): TIN T2 PRO IEMs lightning deal

Speaking of lightning deals, starting at 6:09pm ET they are gonna have an offer on the new condition Tin Audio T2 PRO in-ears. There are three different models on the same listing, so it’s possible the others may also be on sale, or maybe one of the others is on sale instead. Unfortunately the Gold Box teasers are not very deterministic in situations where there are multiple models on the same root listing.

Note also that the T2 PRO has a $3 off clip-on coupon on its product page which should be stackable with the lightning deal discount. You have to be logged on to your Amazon account in order to clip the coupon to your Amazon account.

Starting at the same time they’ll have a lightning deal on a 2019 TaoTronics ANC/bluetooth combo headphone which goes for $70 before the sale. It is available in three different color schemes… I’m not familiar with all these new budget ANC/bluetooth combos, so be sure to check reviews and forums and such if you are not already familiar with them…

Monday (starts 12:49pm ET): KZ ES4 Lightning Deal

If you are a fan of the way KZ is doing in-ears and you don’t want to wait for a few weeks for these to arrive from China, starting at 12:49pm ET on Monday 8/19/19, there will be a lightning deal on the KZ ES4 in-ears at Amazon USA. Note that there are multiple options on the listing: different colors and with/without a microphone. We do not know ahead of time which one(s) of the options will be the lightning deal, so be sure to check the various options or go through the headphone tag in the Amazon Gold Box to find it quickly…

Monday (EU): Sony and Anker Headphone sale

It is Sony day at the Amazon Germany Gold Box or as the cool kids in Germany like to call it, the Ange Bote 😉 Among the Sony products on sale they have the following headphones on sale for Monday August 19 in 2019:

+ ZX-310 closed on-ears for 15 euro
+ I had this headphone in my to-go bag for a while, I swear this must have been tuned in a moderately busy coffee shop because it sounds very serviceable there but when you listen to it in a quiet place, it sounds quite un-audiophile

+ ZX-330BT bluetooth on-ears for 39 euro

+ MDR-XB950N1 ANC/bluetooth closed over-ears for 90 euro two color options

+ WH-H900N ANC/bluetooth closed over-ears for 160 in three color options
+ yes, Sony has a multi-tier approach for their ANC/bluetooth combos

BUT that’s not all. When you further scroll through the daily deals, there’s also a combo Anker and Soundcore sale. Soundcare is an Anker sub-brand because it sounds more audio-ish than Anker? Anyway, their offerings for Monday:

+ Soundcore Life2 closed bluetooth over-ears for 38 euro

+ Soundcore Spirit X exercise bluetooth earphones for 25 euro
+ Anker SoundBuds slim bluetooth earphones for 21 euro

+ Soundcore Liberty truly wireless earphones for 60 euro
+ mono wireless headset for 12 euro

+ and of course the obligatory handful of portable bluetooth speakers

Wedn: PowerBeats 3 bluetooth earphones for $70

Good until 11:59pm ET on Wednesday August 14 in 2019, at B&H Photo, you can get the new condition PowerBeats 3 bluetooth earphones, part of their “Neighborhood Collection” in the asphalt gray color scheme, going for $70 with free US shipping…

Tue: Fuji Labs HD 200 Wireless headphones for $35

Good for Tuesday August 13 in 2019 until 11:59pm pacific time, through the NewEgg website but sold and shipped by the manufacturer of the product, you can get the new condition Fuji Labs HD 200 Wireless headphones for $35 with free US shipping. Limit up to three pairs per customer at the sale price.

The specs promise that even at 80% volume you don’t disturb others near you (they are closed-back after all). They also promise up to 42 hours music playback time and have a LiPo battery. They average 4 out of 5 based on nine customer reviews.

I can’t tell for certain by looking at the pictures and casually looking at the reviews and answers whether these are over-ear or on-ears….