Sony WH-CH-710-N ANC/BT Over-Ears for $68

The latest Amazon USA Gold Box includes a Sony audio sale that includes the new condition closed-back ANC/BT over-ears that go by the name of WH-CH-710-N, going for $68 in two color options. Sold and shipped by Amazon proper.

Over there, they average 4.4 out of 5 based on over 20,000 customer ratings as of the time of writing and they have over 400 answered questions.

I haven’t seen or touched this model, but we had here, over four years ago, a text and pictures unboxing of the previous model, the WH-CH-700-N.

Basically these are a way for Sony to compete in the sub-$100 market segment where many alternative/unknown brands dominate (eg at Amazon’s website) with low priced options.

November 15, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Tribit truly wireless sale (including 100H for $32)

For a limited time, Amazon is having a sale on select Tribit truly-wireless, along with some over-ears and some speakers, all of the bluetooth kind. A total of 22 options as of the time of writing.

Of note is the Tribit 100H TW for $32. I have these and they indeed last a long time. I use them daily for YouTube and podcasts and such, and charge them just once per month!

You can also do the one earpiece trick, you don’t have to use both at the same time. That’s how I’m getting the once a month charge. Each earpiece runs for around 3 hours and change before it needs to get recharged in the comfort of the included charging case. Then you switch to the other earpiece, while the previous one recharges. You can on and on like this until the charging case battery is depleted!

November 14, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: ,

Saturday: Yamaha YH-E700A ANC/BT Over-Ears for $160

Good until 11/12/22 at 11:59pm central time, the Woot daily deals are having a mini Yamaha headphone sale that consists of exactly new condition two models with a 1-year Yamaha warranty:

+ YH-E700A ANC/BT over-ears for $160
+ two per customer
+ bluetooth 5 with apt-X and AAC
+ case, USB-C charging

+ YH-E700A truly-wireless for $40
+ BT5, apt-X, IPX5, USB-C, five color options

November 12, 2022 Filed Under: headphones, truly wireless Tagged With: , ,

Koss KPH40X Utility Open On-Ears drop to $35

If you haven’t been keeping up, the KPH30i is now passe and there’s a new trendy Koss model with a higher model number 😉

Joking aside, the new condition KPH40X Utility lightweight Koss x Massdrop on-ears is on sale for $35 at the Massdrop website. This will ship in early December 2022 (it is not an in-stock drop).

What separates this from most headphones is the Koss “Utility Port” that works with 3.5mm or USB-C or Lightning cables (made by Koss). A 3.5mm cable is included in the package, along with three pairs of earpads (each set a different color).

November 11, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Singles Day 2022 is here, let the Chi-Fi parties begin!

Yes, the premier Chi-Fi party is here! It is Singles Day 2022! I can’t go through all the sites and the individual sales, but here’s a round-up of some of the places to look for deals:

+ LinSoul Audio

+ Hifi Go

+ Shen Zhen Audio, also has regional Amazon stores, some ship from regional country (eg USA Prime eligible), some ship from China

+ Penon Audio, “old school” Chi-fi retailer

+ KZ Online Shoppe, old school budget IEMs

+ Fiio shop, I guess Fiio is now “old school”

+ Moondrop Audio, because the hype machine is hungry!

+ and a lot more!

And now off to the general-market retailers that also have plenty of Chi-fi gear, such as

+ GearBest (bought from them multiple times)

+ Aliexpress (biggest site, check each retailer like you would do on Amazon and eBay)

+ DH Gate

+ and a lot more

BECAUSE Chi-Fi is a lifestyle, it’s a never-ending journey, the shopping never stops and the latest must-have IEM is just a YouTube update away! Just today, Ryan of Super*Review rated the Truthear Hexa as the “easiest 5-star ever” (YouTube-embedded below), so run to buy this one too along with the rest of the must-have Chi-fis 🙂

November 10, 2022 Filed Under: store sale Tagged With:

Master & Dynamic MW07 truly-wireless for $33

Woot Plus are longer running deals, this one in particular that I’m mentioning down below runs for another 3 weeks. It is the new condition Master & Dynamic MW07 truly-wireless going for $33 plus shipping (free for Prime members) in your choice of four color schemes, and up to ten pairs per customer. Great for color-coding gift-giving, so each child/grand-child/great-grand-child gets a different color, so they don’t confuse them 🙂

It comes with a 1-year M&D warranty. It supports apt-X but it is Bluetooth 4.2. Personally I prefer to go with Bluetooth 5, as the bluetooth connectivity issues and peculiarities decrease when all devices are version 5. It comes with a charging case and a pouch and such.

November 10, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: , ,

Tue: Etymotic Research EVO Triple-Driver IEMs for $200

Surprise-surprise, an earphone has appeared at the daily deals of New York’s famous B&H Photo, it is the new condition Etymotic Research EVO Triple-Driver IEMs going for $200 after an add-to-cart instant coupon! The offer runs until Tuesday 11/8/22 at 11:59pm eastern or earlier if sold out…

It includes all kinds of IEM-y accessories including foam, double and triple flange eartips, dampers and replacement tool, and bags and holders and such.

UPDATE: some Tuesday action at Amazon as well, there’s a Polk speakers sale (seven options) and there’s a Willie Nelson ebook for $4…

November 7, 2022 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With:

Monday eBook: “Mad World” (80s music) for $3

Good for Monday 11/7/22 in the pacific time zone, Amazon is offering the Kindle ebook version of “Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s” by Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein for $3.

This came out in April 2014 by ABRAMS Image, it is 324 pages, and as of the time of writing it averages 4.6 out of 5 based on 363 ratings…

November 7, 2022 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With:

Monday: refurbished Philips X3 Open Over-Ears for $100

Good until Monday 11/7/22 at 11:59pm central time (or earlier if sold out) there’s a Philips Audio sale at Woot that includes, surprise-surprise, the factory reconditioned open-back over-ear wired Philips Fidelio X3 for $100 plus flat shipping (or free S&H for Prime members). It comes with a 90-day Woot warranty. Up to three pairs per customer.

If you are reading this in the future after the sale expired, and this hasn’t sold out, chances are it will be cycled/recycled in various other Woot Plus or daily deals until it is eventually depleted…

November 7, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Mainstream Earphone sale at Amazon

Trigger warning for headfi denizens, this post contains mainstream brands 🙂

Amazon is having a limited time on various mainstream earphones and headphones including:

+ AirPods PRO (2nd Gen) for $234

+ Sony Group sale including the WH-1000XM4 ANC/BT over-ears for $228
+ various LinkBuds as well

+ BOSE SleepBuds II for $199

+ various Beats truly wireless

UPDATE: speaking of name-brands, for Monday 11/7/22, the Meh daily deal is the Kenwood WS-A1 ANC truly-wireless for $50 plus shipping…

November 6, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: , , , , ,

Amazon Prime Music now includes ALL music (in shuffle mode) Ad-Free

Amazon tries once again to make inroads in the world of streaming music services. For Prime members only, they have announced an upgrade, now with the included “Prime Music” service (included in the Prime membership) you can list Ad-FREE to all 100+ million songs in their database, in Shuffle mode, or in select “All Access” playlists. You can also listen to some of the top podcasts ad-free.

When it came out a few years ago, “Prime Music” only offered a selection of about 2 million songs.

So why even pay for the for-pay “Music Unlimited” tier if you are a Prime member? Well, with that you get on-demand music playback (meaning you can play individual songs and albums in order), you get HD music, offline listening, unlimited skips, etc.

PS: if you are not a Prime member, and not signed-up for the for-pay music plan, you can still listen to music for free, but it is with ads and it is more limited than the “Prime Music”.

November 5, 2022 Filed Under: music apps Tagged With:

Monday: Master & Dynamic MW07 True Wireless for $33

Good until 10/31/22 at 11:59pm central time, as one of its featured deals, Woot is offering the new condition Master & Dynamic MW07 True Wireless for $33 with free US shipping for Prime members, or flat shipping for non-members.

It is available in four color options, comes with a 1-year M&D warranty and such.

PS: if it doesn’t sell out, it will likely cycle through some of the other longer-running “Woot Plus” offerings…

October 31, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: ,

H&A Versa Professional Studio headphones for $40

If you are looking for a Sony MDR-V6/7506 type of a studio headphone, good until Thursday October 27 at 10am eastern in 2022, as one of their deals du jour, Adorama of New York is offering their new condition house-brand H&A Versa Professional Field and Studio Monitors for $40. They come with two cables (one coiled), and a 1/4″ adapter. They fold inwards.

Here’s a 93-second video promo for them from Adorama TV:

October 26, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Bose QC45 ANC/BT Over-Ears for $249

It looks like this is a Bose-initiated promotion, because the price of their new condition QC45 ANC/BT over-ears is down to $249 at various authorized and reputable BOSE dealers such as Amazon and NewEGG and B&H Photo and Adorama and a few more, too many to list here individually…

PS: all apologies for triggering some head-audiophiles/phools by mentioning Bose 😉

October 24, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Etymotic ER3SE Studio Edition IEMs for $49

For a limited time, Adorama of New York is offering the new condition Etymotic Research ER3SE Studio Edition Earphones for $49! I do not know when the sale ends!

This is the standard kit with the 2-year Etymotic warranty and the usual included accessories!

October 16, 2022 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With:

Sterling 4-Channel Professional Headphone Amplifier for $50

It’s a headphone amplifier, probably not the type you see buzzing around at Headfi and Zeos Fi and such, but it is the current Musician’s Friend daily deal, the new condition Sterling Audio 4-Channel Professional Headphone Amplifier offered for $50 with free US shipping [I think]… Offer ends Thursday at 8am eastern or earlier if sold out…

October 12, 2022 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With:

Apple Airpods (2nd generation) for $90 [limit 3]

This is at Amazon BUT as of the time of writing this appears to be open to all customers, not just Prime members! It is the new condition Apple Airpods (2nd generation) for $90, sold and shipped by Amazon herself, with up to three per customer at the sale price. This come with a Lightning charging case.

October 12, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: , ,

Massdrop launched their own Prime deals (HD-8XX for $899, Etc)

Not to be outdone by Amazonia, Massdrop has launched their own Prime deals which include, among others:

+ Sennheiser HD-6XX for $219
+ yes, you could have had this for $199 pre-COVID, but unless you have a time-machine…

+ Sennheiser HD-8XX for $899

+ HELM AUDIO DB12 AAAMP THX AMP for $99
+ because a simple dongle is for the plebs!

+ Audio Technica AD-500X open over-ears for $69
+ yes, there are other open-back options under $100, it’s not just Sennheiser, Philips and Grado

+ SMSL SH-8s amplifier for $130

+ BeyerDee MMX 300 Premium gaming headset for $229

+ lots of keyboard-y things

+ find them all at the Massdrop Prime deals

October 12, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , , ,

Prime Early Access sale includes Sony, Beats, Bose, Apple headphones

If you a Prime member, today is DAY ONE of the Amazon PRIME early access sale and the sale includes a variety of consumer-popular headphones including:

+ BOSE QC45, 700, earphones
+ QC45 is $229, 700 is $269, Soundsport bluetooth earphones for $89

+ AirPods PRO (2nd Gen) for $235 or with AppleCare+ for $264

+ two pages of Beats offers including over-ear, on-ear and truly-wireless
+ yes, there’s even a Kim Kardashian option 🙂
+ some of them are bundled with AppleCare+

+ UPDATE: there’s a Sony wireless sale featuring the WH-1000X M5 for $348 , the WF-C500 for $58, and the LinkBuds S for $128

+ there are more headphones, time-permitting I will go through the offers and post new deal-posts about them!

IF you see anything you like (they even have the whole Samsung smartphone high-end line-up on sale), but you are not a Prime member, FEAR NOT, you can get the deals as long as you sign-up for a PRIME 30-Day FREE trial…

PS: you can also find some of these by checking the Headaphone offers widget

October 11, 2022 Filed Under: headphones, truly wireless Tagged With: , , , ,

Tuesday: Philips PH-805, Bose Soundlink II, Sony WF-1000X M4

Woot is back with a second day of tech deals. and once again, they have headphones in them, including:

+ Philips PH-805 ANC/BT over-ears for $55

+ Bose Soundlink II bluetooth over-ears for $125, two color options

+ Grade A refurbished Sony WF-1000X M4 truly-wireless for $145

+ Lenovo truly wireless for $12

+ Philips T1 ANC PRO+ truly wireless for $150

+ Klipsch and other speakers

October 11, 2022 Filed Under: headphones, truly wireless Tagged With: , , ,

Monday: PX7, WH-1000X M5, Airpods Max, 1More Quad, Etc

A Best Of Tech sale at woot for Monday 10/10/22 is actually an undercover headphone sale because it has four name-brand over-ears and four earphones. They are:

+ factory reconditioned Apple AirPods Max ANC/BT Over-Ears with 90-day Woot warranty for $355
+ limit two per customer

+ Bowers & Wilkins PX7 ANC/BT over-ears, new condition, for $200

+ open-box Sony WH-1000X M5 for $330 with 90-day Woot warranty

+ Steelseries Arctis Nova 1P multi-system for $40

+ 1more Quad Drive IEMs for $80

+ truly wireless from JBL, LG and Hyeing (first time I see this brand)

UPDATE: as have a music e-book in the Monday Kindle daily deals, for $2 you can buy “The Birth and Impact of Britpop: Mis-Shapes, Scenesters and Insatiable Ones” by Paul Laird. This is a new book, it came out in September 2022 from White Oak. It is around 19MB but it doesn’t state the page length. It averages 5 out of 5 based on five ratings…

October 10, 2022 Filed Under: headphones, truly wireless Tagged With: ,

Heads up: Massdrop 10 Year Anniversary Sale on Tue & Wedn

If you are a fan of some of the headphones sold at Massdrop, we have a heads-up alert for you! They are planning their 10-Year anniversary sale on Tuesday 10/11/22 and Wednesday 10/12/22!

The sale will include, among others:

+ Sennheiser PC 37X gaming headset for $69

+ Hifiman HE-4XX for $129

+ Hifiman HE-R7DX for $79

+ more sale items will be revealed per the link above
+ Massdrop is in the pacific time zone (Los Angeles time)

October 8, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

Koss Porta PRO X down to $29 [and IN-STOCK]

The headphone hobby can be prohibitively expensive for many people, but there are exceptions! One such exception is right here right now! The Massdrop variant of the Koss Porta PRO, the “X”, the old-school retro open-back on-ears is back in-stock at Massdrop and it’s on sale for $29! With the legendary KOSS limited lifetime warranty!

Shipping is free with orders over $125. Five of these can get you to free shipping. Give them as gifts, trade them, keep an extra pair for work, and so on!

These are an “in-stock drop”, so they ship in two business days after purchase. It’s not the “legendary” Massdrop long wait!

I have this but I haven’t prepared the unboxing post yet. I haven’t posted a headphone unboxing in two years. I’m a very productive audiophool blogger 🙂

October 8, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Saturday: Skullcandy earphones, $7 to $17

One of the Saturday 10/8/22 Woot daily deals is a sale on new condition Skullcandy earphones, one wired, two necklace-style bluetooth, and one truly-wireless, ranging in price from $7 to $17 per pair. They come with a 1-year Skullcandy warranty. Sale ends at 11:59pm central time or earlier if sold out.

PS: in typical Woot fashion, things that don’t sell out, they often get re-cycled in future Woot daily deals or Woot Plus or Woot-OFF sales…

October 8, 2022 Filed Under: in-ears, truly wireless Tagged With: ,

Tuesday: Over-Ears sale: AUKEY ANC/BT and Senal Studio

For Tuesday October 4 in 2022, the Meh daily deal is a sale on the new condition AUKEY EP-N12 ANC/BT over-ear closed-back headphones for $24 plus shipping, or $39 if you buy two pairs. Shipping is free if you are paying member of the Meh website (sort of like their version of Prime).

For the same day, B&H Photo is offering for a limited time their new condition closed-back over-ear Senal SHX-800 Professional Monitor Headphones for $40. They come with 2-year warranty, two cables (one coiled), a carrying bag, and a storage box too!

October 4, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , , ,

Monoprice overstock sale includes 8323, Amplifiers, IEMs

Monoprice is back with another overstock sale and in the “Personal Audio” segment it includes a number of headphone-related products including:

+ the good old 8323 closed over-ears for $15
+ they now come with two cables, one with mic/remote
+ I had this a few years ago when it was riding the hype train, you certainly can’t go wrong for $15, considering you get two audio cables and a 1/4″ adapter
+ I haven’t posted an unboxing/review of this, but note that it expands a lot on your head (meaning that when you wear it you look like an android/robot from the 50s scifi movies), but it’s also not as big as it looks – of interest to those with big heads

+ THX AAA Monolith balanced headphone amp for $300

+ Quartet IEMs for $25
+ two balanced, two dynamic drivers
+ also for $25 is the Trio (1BA, 2DD)

+ there’s a few more headphone/audio related products as well as many tech things (cables, guitars, chargers, etc)

September 30, 2022 Filed Under: amps and dacs, headphones, in-ears Tagged With:

V-Moda HexaMove PRO truly-wireless for $70

Musician’s Friend is also headphone’s friend until Friday 9/30/22 at 8am ET (or earlier if sold out) because their current deal of the day is the new condition V-Moda HeXaMoVe PRO truly-wireless offered for $70…

September 29, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: ,

Bose QuietComfort 45 ANC/BT Over-Ears for $249

For a limited time (I do not know when the offer expires), New York’s B&H Photo is offering the new condition BOSE QuietComfort 45 ANC/BT closed-back over-ears on sale for $249 in the two color schemes available. There is a limited supply at this price.

As of the time of writing these average 4.5 out of 5 based on 623 customer reviews at B&H. Needless to say, the market of ANC/BT over-ears is hot with all kinds of known, unknown and semi-known brands competing aggressively.

Lately I’ve moved away from over-ear bluetooth headphones (last one I had in rotation was the Sony WH-CH700N (now a previous generation model)) and shifted towards the more utilitarian (and audiophile triggering) truly wireless 🙂

September 27, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Tuesday: Mpow M12 truly-wireless for $10

Truly-wireless no longer break the bank if you want to get one of them Amazon-popular type of brands instead of the name-brand audio and consumer electronics companies.

Case in point, one of the NewEGG daily deals for Tuesday 9/27/22 is the new condition Mpow M12 truly-wireless for $10, sold by the MPOW official store at NewEGG, and shipped by NewEGG itself. No promo code needed.

These charge via USB-C (a must nowadays if you are part of the USB-C charging ecosystem; I still have micro-USB devices in circulation but still, USB-C is the future for now), promise up to 25 hours of playback with the charging case, bluetooth 5.0 (a must if you want to limit bluetooth connectivity hassles), IPX8 and such. Of utilitarian interest, you can use one earpiece at a time if you want, it effectively doubles playback time! As I previously mentioned, I do this with the Tribit and charge them once a month (!!!) even though I use them daily for YouTube video/live-stream viewing…

Speaking of daily deals, Amazon is offering this Echo Studio with Echo Sub bundle for the very specific price of $247.49. This is currently restricted to Prime members. But if you must have it, you can start a 30-day FREE Prime trial and get it.

September 27, 2022 Filed Under: truly wireless Tagged With: ,

FOCAL Elegia Closed Over-Ears for $329

For a limited time, in the world of audiophile closed-back wired over-ears, Adorama is offering the new condition FOCAL ELEGIA headphones for $329! With a 1-year FOCAL warranty. The price you see is the price you pay. No coupons, no rebates!

At Adorama, this averages 4.7 out of 5 based on 101 customer reviews. They also have 299 answers on the question “Why Did You Chose This” 🙂

I do not know when the sale ends…

Orders placed will ship on Wednesday September 28 in 2022 because Adorama is currently observing the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Go FOCAL Go? 🙂

September 26, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Wireless ANC/BT Over-Ears for $230

Good until 9/25/22 at 11:59pm central time, or earlier if sold out, Woot is offering the new condition Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Wireless ANC/BT Over-Ears for $230 plus shipping with a 2-year B&W warranty. Up to three pairs per customer at the sale price. This is in the “Carbon” color scheme.

On-topic action at the Sunday Meh daily deal as well, they offer 2-packs of Aukey Hybrid Active Noise Canceling Truly Wireless Earbuds for $25 plus shipping. LOL, the wires you see in the picture are from the background, not from the earphones. If you mouse-over or click the picture of the earphones, you see there are no wires. File that as a Meh self-own 🙂

And if you are into all things Elvis, one of the Sunday Kindle ebook daily deals at Amazon is the “Careless Love (Enhanced Edition): The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (Elvis series Book 2) Kindle Edition with Audio/Video” for $3. By Peter Guralnick. December 2014 from Little Brown and Company. Nearly 800 pages. Averages 4.7 out of 5 with nearly 1000 customer ratings.

BUT WAIT, there’s another Kindle ebook daily deal, it’s the “Tim – The Official Biography of Avicii” for $2 by MÃ¥ns Mosesson. 4.8 out of 5 with nearly 600 customer ratings, 423 pages, November 2021 from Sphere.

September 25, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Etymotic ER3 SE In-Ears for $80 (ends Sun 10am ET)

Good until Sunday 9/25/22 at 10am eastern (or earlier if sold out), Adorama is offering the new condition Etymotic ER3 SE in-ears for $80 as one of their deals of the day!

Etymotic is of course synonymous with the deep-insertion flange in-ears but they also include in the package the more conventional foam eartips. You also get filters (with removal tool included), and a storage pouch. The cable is removaable. They come standard with a 2-year Etymotic warranty…

September 24, 2022 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With:

Tin Audio T2 IEMs for $45 AC

To the IEMs we geaux, Amazon has the new condition Tin Audio T2 IEMs on sale for $50 BUT in parallel they also have a $5 off clip-on coupon, dropping the price to $45.

The coupon can be stored to your Amazon account, you don’t have to use it right away, but it will eventually expire…

September 23, 2022 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: ,

Pengo 4.7-inch USB-C to 3.5mm Dongle for $10

Forced by the smartphone manufacturer to join “The Dongle Lifestyle”? Good until 9/21/22 at 10am ET (or earlier if sold out) Adorama is offering, as part of their daily deals, the new condition Pengo 4.7″ USB Type-C to 3.5mm 192KHz Audio Adapter Cable for $10, with a 18-month Pengo limited warranty. This goes up to 192/24.

Note this is 4.7 inches long, not 4.7 feet!

September 20, 2022 Filed Under: amps and dacs Tagged With: ,

Refurbished Massdrop x FOCAL Elex for $499 [CAUTION]

This is a deal but with a caution alert as well!

Massdrop is offering refurbished B-stock Massdrop x FOCAL ELEX wired open-back over-ears for $499 with free US shipping. You get a 30-day return window but NO warranty. This is an in-stock drop, so it will ship quickly.

CAUTION however, three of the four published customer reviews over there are complaining of “Ear Cup Death”. Two of the three within 2 days, one on day #28.

So if the price tempts you, research it further in the massdrop forums and other audiophile places. If you hate having to return a product because of problems (and return it in a timely manner because of the 30-day return window), or having to argue with customer service in case they stonewall, you may want to AVOID it!

September 19, 2022 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,