It’s Back! Sennheiser HD6XX for $200 [MD]

The Sennheiser HD6XX listing at Massdrop is reborn of smoke and salt! It is running again for the next 20 days and change (from blog posting date), or earlier if the 10,000 unit limit is reached. As of the time of writing, 7721 units have been purchased, so there’s plenty of them to go around.

The shipping estimate is the same as the previous drop, late March 2018. They come with a 2-year warranty as they are a Massdrop-Sennheiser collaboration. Limit up to five units per customer at the moment. All sales are final and they will be shipped from Massdrop.

These have been around for a while now, so you can find more reviews and comparisons to other headphones and also the HD600/HD650 duo.

PS: if you don’t want to wait that long, you can try your luck no eBay or other used headphone markets and forums.

FOCAL ELEX drops to $700 for ALL participants in the drop [MD]

While the lauded Focal CLEAR remains in-stock for its starting price of $1500, its cousin model, the newer ELEX is having a $100 off discount!

For the next two days and change, Massdrop is offering it for $700 instead of $800. The sale price is guaranteed until the end of this drop in two days and change.

If you had previously purchased it at $800, fear NOT! Existing participating in the drop will also pay $700, not $800. You don’t have to cancel and rebuy. Their email does not say exactly how this will be adjusted but if you had previously committed at $800, you’ll probably see an email or an adjustment. The payment will be collected after the drop, so your credit card will probably be charged for $700 instead of $800.

This is estimated to ship mid-February 2018, and comes with a 2-year warranty since it is a FOCAL-Massdrop co-operation.

This new price puts it in ELEAR territory.

Used Grado Reference Series RS1e for $556

Holiday shoppers are typically scooping up used Grados from Amazon more aggressively than during the “regular season”, but we finally spotted one available! It is the Grado Reference Series RS1e in “Used – Very Good” condition (cosmetic imperfections; damaged original packaging) for $556 with free shipping by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual. The new condition price is $700 at authorized Grado dealers.

PS: especially with Grados, beware of any urecognizable sellers offering them at Amazon/Warehouse, especially if the prices are too good to be true.

Beyerdynamic DT 880 PREMIUM (600 ohm) + iFi Micro iDSD Black Label Headphone amp for $499 after coupon

Running until January 5 (2018) or earlier if sold out, you can get this bundle for $499 with free shipping from BuyDig: it is a Beyerdynamic + iFi combo. Use coupon code LISTENCLEAR to drop the price from $728 to $499. For that, you get:

+ Beyerdynamic DT 880 PREMIUM semi-open over-ear Headphones (600 Ohms)
+ iFi Audio Micro iDSD Black Label Headphone Amp

FOCAL Clear In-Stock for $1500

If the Innerfidelity review of the FOCAL CLEAR got you to reconsider these headphones as they are having around ride on the hype train, we have good news for you, they are in-stock for their opening price of $1500 at seven different recognizable audio dealers through Amazon, five of which are Prime eligible.

Still Running: Sennheiser HD6XX for $200 [MD]

Unless it gets extended, the Massdrop offer for the Sennheiser HD6XX open over-ears for $200 is scheduled to close in two days and change (from blog-posting date). They haven’t ran out of units though, under 7000 have been sold with up to 10,000 units available for the offer. These ship in late March 2018, so keep that in mind.

Complicating the decision though is another new entry from Sennheiser-Drop, the HD58X Jubilee edition for $150 but these will ship in late June 2018. They make the HD 6XX feel like they are arriving yesterday 🙂

For headphones that are readily available as a “normal” retail purchase at Massdrop, check our Massdrop Tracker perma-post.

Beyerdynamic AMIRON Over-Ears for $500

A marketplace seller has triggered a price-match by Amazon’s own price-bots, making the new condition Beyerdynamic AMIRON over-ears go down to the very specific price of $501.56 with free shipping, sold & shipped by Amazon actual with up to three pairs per customer.

This price is also available by Focus Camera on eBAY, more specifically $499, with five units available. This has a “Make Offer” available, so you can try your luck with the eBay “Best Offer” process if you like to e-haggle with eBay’s blessings.

Starts Friday 9am ET: Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee Headphones for $150

Massdrop back with another new product launch happening this Friday 12/22/17 at 9am eastern time! It is the brand new Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee Headphone that will be offered for $150 with free USA shipping.

A total of 5000 units will be available as part of this drop. The first 500 purchases will get a serial number under 550. They are described as a modern take on the spirit of the HD 580 with new 150 ohm drivers. A 2-year manufacturer warranty is included since these are a co-operation with Sennheiser.

The shipping estimate will be revealed when the offer goes live on Friday at 9am eastern.

It will be interesting to see whether, depending on the shipment estimate date, these may cannibalize some of the HD 6XX potential sales and current orders.

LIVE: Massdrop’s FOCAL ELEX Open-Back Over-Ear for $800

UPDATE 12/19/17 at 4:30pm ET: 239 units sold…

UPDATE 12/18/17 at 10pm ET: 220 units sold, out of the 1000 available as of this re-check…

UPDATE: the offer is now LIVE! 161 units out of the 1000 got sold as of 10:48am ET. The shipment estimate is April 30, 2018

Massdrop is now offering their Massdrop x Focal Elex Headphones for $800 with free shipping. One thousand units will be available and serialized. The first 500 buyers will get a serial number under 550. This is based on the Elear and to a lesser extend the Clear.

The offer went live on Monday 12/18/17 at 9am eastern time.

Since it is a Massdrop-FOCAL co-operation, it comes with a 2-year manufacturer warranty. They ship April 30 in 2018, so patience is a 4.5 month virtue in this case 🙂 We are buying before Christmas and getting them after Easter. It may feel like 33 years but it’s only 4.5 months!

Pay with Prime Credit Card, Get 20% Statement Credit on Sennheiser HD 600 and HD 650

This offer is only available if you have a Prime credit card (VISA or Store Card), you are a Prime member and you are willing to pay for the purchase with one of those two credit cards.

IF yes to all of the above, the Prime Statement Credit Promotion now gives you 20% back (instead of the usual 5%) when you purchase select qualifying items. The products must be sold and shipped by Amazon actual, not marketplace sellers.

Eligible for this promotion is the Sennheiser HD 600/650 duo! The prices are as of the time of writing:

+ PAY $286 for the Sennheiser HD 600, get $57~ statement credit
+ that’s $229 after the statement credit posts to your credit card account

+ PAY $306 for the Sennheiser HD 650, get $61~ statement credit
+ that’s $245 after the statement credit posts to your credit card account

Since these offers are only available to Prime members, you will get these in about two days after purchasing. This promotion brings their prices closer to the $200 which is what Massdrop asks for.

This is a limited time offer, expiration date unknown. The offer is running while you see it mentioned on the individual product pages. If you don’t see it mentioned, it means it expired!!!

Save The Date: Massdrop’s FOCAL ELEX Over-Ears Go LIVE Monday 9am ET!

Get ready for a Monday 9am eastern Massdrop madness! Starting at that time will be the premiere drop of a brand new audiophile open-back headphone, the Massdrop x Focal Elex Headphones with a price of $800. One thousand units will be available and serialized. The first 500 buyers will get a serial number under 550. This is based on the Elear and to a lesser extend the Clear.

Since it is a Massdrop-FOCAL co-operation, it comes with a 2-year manufacturer warranty. The shipping details will be revealed over there when the offer goes live on Monday 12/18/17 at 9am eastern (6am pacific time).

Here’s a 4 minute Massdrop video touting their FOCAL partnership and such…

Sennheiser HD 650 drips to $306

If of all the Sennheiser HD 6**/7** headphones it is the new condition open-back over-ear HD 650 the one you want, you can get it in new condition for $306~ with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual. Free 2-day delivery for Prime members.

Or if you can wait until late March 2018, you can get the Sennheiser HD 6XX for $200 with free shipping at Massdrop. This is 3.5 months from blog-posting date, so that’s quite a wait in internet time 🙂

Refurbished Sennheiser HD800 for $849

UPDATE 12/9/17 AM: still good as of this recheck…

There’s a surprise at the official Sennheiser Outlet store! They are offering the refurbished Sennheiser HD800 open-back over-ear for $849. These are blessed by Sennheiser! Free UPS ground shipping is included.

In comparison, they go for $724~ in “Used – Very Good” condition (damaged original packaging) by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual.

Sennheiser HD 579 Open Over-Ears for $100

The new condition open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 579 headphones, part of their latest “9s” line-up is on sale for $100 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual (limit one per customer). This is not a lightning deal, so expiration time is unknown.

Open-box Focal ELEAR for $689 + S&H [updated]

UPDATE 12/9/17 at 11:20am ET: the price now is $689 for all listings…

UPDATE 12/7/17 at 9:26am ET: now we are up to four separate listings, the price range remains the same…

UPDATE 12/6/17 at 11:33am ET: now we are down to two listings instead of three…

With the new CLEAR headphones coming in between the ELEAR and the UTOPIA, we have movement on the ELEAR pricing front. These came out at $1000. At the moment there are three open-box listings of these at Adorama with prices ranging from $669 to $689 depending on condition. Shipping is extra and starts around $14 (YMMV slightly based on zipcode).

PS: if you don’t see any headphones at the linked page, it means all three listings have sold out.

In-Stock Now: FOCAL Clear for $1500 [4 left]

Never Fear, Focal Clear is Here! As of the time of writing, there are four units of the new FOCAL CLEAR open-back over-ear headphone at its starting price of $1500 by seller Audio Advice sold through Amazon. This ships directly from Audio Advice (real world B&M A/V stores), but if you are a Prime member, as part of a lesser-known Prime benefit, you still get Prime-like delivery speed for free. You can tell this by paying attention to the listing details:

Or if you can purchase it directly from Audio Advice with free 2-day shipping with FedEx Ground or Express.

In-Stock Now: Sennheiser HD660S for $500

If you are looking for the Sennheiser HD 660S open-back over-ears, they are back in-stock again at their starting price of $500 by a couple of fulfilled by Amazon sellers, “Electronics EXPO” and “World Wide Stereo”. Amazon’s own listing remains “temporarily out of stock”.

In terms of bang for the buck though, if you have the patience for it arrive in a few months, the HD6XX goes for $200 as a Massdrop in-stock drop.

Sennheiser HD 700 Open Over-Ears for $400 [MD]

It’s the union of the two Sennheiser towers at Massdrop. They already have the HD 6XX going for $200, but what if you wanted the HD 700 instead? Unloved as they may be by the masses, the HD 700s too have their shy and quiet and introverted fan base 🙂

And they are now fully unlocked at Massdrop running for the next four days (from blog-posting date) for $400 with free shipping. They come with a 2-year manufacturer warranty (MD and Sennheiser are besties these days) and will ship in late December 2017. All sales are final!

Then there’s the all new HD 660S to consider, which is currently going for $500 as a brand new model with the built-in Sennheiser tax, along with the good old HD600 and HD650.

Decisions, decisions, five models are up in the air! Pull out the spreadsheets and the frequency graphs and the 400-post comparison threads 🙂

Audeze LCD-2 for $650 to $700 (3 options) [updated]

Four different new condition AUDEZE LCD-2 over-ear planar-magnetic headphones are participating in the Black Friday sale at Adorama, an authorized dealer with Audeze warranty as follows:

+ LCD-2 Bamboo and Lambskin Leather for $650
+ LCD-2 Shedua Wood Edition for $650
+ LCD-2 Rosewood and Lambskin Leather for $700

+ SOLD-OUT: + LCD-2 with Travel Case, Aluminum with Lambskin Leather Ear Cushions for $650

Audeze LCD-X for $1050, LCD-3 for $1300

Two more Audeze planar-magnetic over-ear headphones are on a Black Friday sale at Adorama, it is the new condition AUDEZE LCD-X Reference (Aluminum/Lambskin) going for $1050 with free shipping and handling, and also the new condition AUDEZE LCD-3 (Zebrano & Lambskin) going for $1300 with free shipping.

This is looking like an Audeze blog take-over, so let’s break the streak with a couple of Fender Black Friday deals from Adorama: the new condition Fender T-Bucket 350E 6-String Acoustic-Electric Guitar goes for $150, while the Fender T-Bucket 450E 6-String Acoustic-Electric Guitar goes for $200 with free shipping. There, streak broken with the power of six strings 🙂

AUDEZE LCD-4 Reference Open Circumaural for $2999

You can buy fifteen Sine ON-Ears for the sale price of the Audeze LCD-4, but you are not going to get the LCD-4 audio experience with fifteen SINEs unless you have fifteen heads 😉 Okay, we are getting into Star Trek territory, back on topic 🙂

The new condition AUDEZE LCD-4 Reference Open Circumaural Headphone is on sale for a limited time for $2999 with free shipping as part of the Black Friday festivities at authorized dealer Adorama with a 3-year Audeze warranty.

Open-box AudioQuest Nighthawk Wood Headphones for $249, NEW for $299

The new condition AudioQuest Nighthawk Wood Headphones are on sale in new condition for $299 from two different fulfilled by Amazon sellers now. “Electronics Expo” joins the party; previously only “Music Direct” had it available.

But wait, there’s more! Another option materialized on today’s re-check, it is available in open-box “Used – Like New” condition by Gramophone of House Maryland for $249 with free shipping through Amazon Warehouse Deals. This ships directly from Gramophone in Maryland, and it is not Prime eligible, so December delivery 🙂

Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO (250 ohm) Limited Edition for $125

Back to the Beyerdynamic sales train at NewEGG, Focus Camera through NewEgg is offering the new condition Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO (250 ohm) Limited Edition headphones for $125 with free shipping. Limit up to three per customer for this sale that ends on Saturday night (or earlier if sold out). These are open-back over-ears.

Sennheiser HD6XX back for $200 [MD]

Don’t stop believing! The new-condition open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 6XX headphones are back on sale for $200 with free shipping at members-only but free to join Massdrop website! Shipping is +$15 for outside the USA. All units will be serialized. The drop has 10,000 units, and runs for the next eight days.

They are made in Ireland as a Massdrop-Sennheiser partnership and will ship late March 2018. I repeat, these will ship late March 2018. This is four months away! Patience is a virtue 🙂

Now shipping: Sennheiser HD 660S for $500 [updated]

The brand new open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 660S is now in-stock and shipping by Electronics EXPO (East Coast Chain) through Amazon. It ships directly from World Wide Stereo and it is not Prime eligible… Amazon’s own listing remains at the all-encompassing “temporarily out of stock”…

UPDATE: Electronics EXPO sold out since the original post, but WWS has it as well…

Sennheiser HD 660 S now orderable at Amazon

Deciding on a Sennheiser HD 6??-series headphone is more complicated these days. You have the old guard of the HD 600 and HD 650, the Massdropping HD 6XX, and the price-dropping HD 700. But that’s not all. Sennheiser is releasing the brand new HD 660 S as well, with a starting price of $500, and this new headphone is now slowly starting to roll out.

If you are a fan of shopping at Amazon, you can now purchase it for $500 at Amazon by Amazon actual. The stock situation is “Temporarily out of stock”, so the shipping estimate is nebulous at the moment, so if you are buying it as a holiday gift for someone, keep that in mind.

[DEAD] Used Monoprice M1060 Open Planars for $235

These sold out as USED as of 11/20/17 PM recheck…

[Read more…]

Sennheiser HD 650 + Apogee Groove USB DAC/amp for $500

If you happen to want both the new condition Sennheiser HD 650 open-back over-ear headphones AND the Apogee Groove USB DAC/amp, you can get them for $500 with free shipping at the official Sennheiser Store.

Now if you only want one of the two, the math gets more complicated. If you also factor in the Sennheiser HD 6XX, and you don’t have a fixed time frame for the purchase, then things can get more complicated.

Speaking of open-back Sennheiser, their new HD 599 open over-ears is down to $200 by Amazon actual and the official Sennheiser store. This if you want to buy it now. If you don’t have a fixed time frame, they will probably have sales in the next few weeks/months if history repeats itself.

Refurbished Audeze EL-8 Open Planars for $339

This is back in-stock again, the manufacturer refurbished Audeze EL-8 Open Planar-magnetic over-ear headphones are offered for $339 with free shipping and a standard 3-year warranty on the driver and 1-year warranty on everything else by the Audeze Amazon store through Amazon Warehouse Deals. This is Prime eligible, so you get it in about two days if you are a Prime member.

As of the time of writing, there are nine units available according to the Amazon shopping cart.

[DEAD] Beyerdynamic DT 990 (600 ohm) PREMIUM Special Edition (Brushed Chrome) for $159 after coupon

This coupon expired…

This Beyer is Dynamic! The new condition Beyerdynamic DT 990 (600 ohm) PREMIUM Brushed Chrome Special Edition open-back over-ear headphones can be yours for $159 with free shipping after you enter coupon code POWERUP at BuyDig by 11/11/17 PM.

Audio Technica ATH-AD700X Open Over-Ears for $93

Among the products featured in the latest NewEgg November sale, you can get the new condition open-back over-ear Audio Technica ATH-AD700X headphones for $93 with free shipping. This is sold and shipped by aSavings (Focus Camera), through the NewEgg website. The offer expires Saturday night 11/11/17.

Audio Technica ATH-AD900X Open Over-Ears for $130

The BuyDig eBay store is offering the new condition open-back over-ear Audio Technica ATH-AD900X headphones for $130 with free shipping. You can buy as many as you like. This is part of their line of open-back models under the “AD?00X” series.

[DEAD] Used Grado Professional Series PS500e for $366

As of 11/4/17 AM re-check, this sold out in USED condition…

The new condition open-back Grado Professional Series PS500e go for $600 in new condition at authorized dealers, but if you want to save with used, they are available in “Used – Good” condition (cosmetic imperfections, missing manual, repackaged) for $366~ with free shipping by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual where they average 4.5 out of 5 based on 32 customer reviews.

Shure SRH 1440 for $249, SRH 1540 or 1840 for $399 each

We s(h)ure are having a Shure discounting party! In addition to their three digit line-up, their four digit line-up is also on sale. This line-up has two open-back headphones and one closed-back. Listed below by ascending price:

+ open-back SRH 1440 for $249

+ open-back SRH 1840 for $399

+ closed-back SRH 1540 for $399

[DEAD] Audeze LCD-X Open Planars (Music Creator Package) for $1199

This is sold out as of a 11/2/17 recheck…

The official Audeze Amazon store is offering the new condition Audeze LCD-X Open Planars (Music Creator Package) for $1199 with free shipping with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so free 2-day Prime shipping for members. The “Music Creator Package” does not include the travel case that the standard LCD-X kit includes. It is a creative way to discount a product 🙂