[DEAD] Audeze Planar Magnetic Sale (new condition)

UPDATE: these November 2016 sales ENDED. I am keeping the prices below for reference so you can compare them to future sales…

Authorized Audeze dealer Adorama has launched their own new condition Audeze sale featuring the following models (these are new condition, not refurbished):

You can also price-compare these with Audeze’s own B-Stock sale which comes with a 1-year warranty.

November 24, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Fostex TH-900 Mark II for $999

This sale ended… We have another high-low, from a $10 earbud we now go to a $1000 headphone! It is the closed-back over-ear Fostex TH-900 Mark II, with its 1.5 Tesla, at authorized dealer Adorama.com for a limited time.

November 24, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

[DEAD] Audeze Refurbished B-Stock sale until November 30

UPDATE: these November 2016 sales ENDED. I am keeping the prices below for reference so you can compare them to future sales…

UPDATE: authorized dealer Adorama.com is having their own Audeze Black Friday sale and some of their new condition prices meet or even beat Audeze’s own B-stock sales below, so price-check before buying. I will break down the above later today…

ORIGINAL POST
We go high and low on this blog, from free-ish earbuds to the Audeze B-Stock sale, sold directly by Audeze, which includes the following:

  • SINE On-Ears for $349
  • EL-8 Closed for $450, Open for $500<, Titanium for $550/li>
  • LCD-2 for $499
  • LCD-3 for $1495
  • LCD-X or LCD-XC with Deckard for $1695
  • Deckard headphone amplifer for $394

The sale ends on November 30 in 2016, or earlier for any models that sell out before that point. Their refurbished B-stock headphones come with a full warranty. Note however that you can’t select which headband and earpad materials you want, they will send you what they have available.

November 24, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , , ,

[DEAD] Used Sennheiser HD 800 for $737 is back [updated]

This ended…

As of a 11/19/16 at 3:55pm ET recheck, this is back on… The Sennheiser HD 800 is not eligible for the 15% off AWD discount, but as of the time of writing, there’s a “Used – Good” condition option available for $737~ with free shipping by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual.

When looking at prices at Amazon, the ones offering it for $1000 in new condition are unknown sellers, and very likely not authorized Sennheiser dealers. So for $1000 headphone, make sure they are authorized AND reputable dealers before you consider buying. Both are important, especially for a big purchase. It’s one thing to risk on a $50 item, and quite another to take a $1000 risk.

As a 11/18/16 at 11:12pm ET recheck, the used $737 option is no longer available…

November 19, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Hifiman HE-1000 Planar flagship down to $2400

The Hifiman HE-1000 flagship planar magnetic headphones typically go for $3000 as default price at authorized dealers, but these too are participating in the Hifiman-blessed Black Friday sales, you can get them for $2400 with free shipping by various authorized marketplace sellers, most of them Prime-eligible, through Amazon.

On the other hand, 20% off too much is still too much (think “20% off infinity”), so if you are more comfortable with used, you can get them in “Used – Like New” condition from authorized dealer Hi-Fi Heaven for $1565 through Amazon Warehouse Deals (this particular listing is not Prime eligible).

November 18, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , , ,

Used Focal Utopia for $3700

If you are interested in the Focal Utopia and don’t mind used, here’s a listing to monitor, it is available in “Used – Like New” condition with less than 30 minutes of used by authorized dealer “Hidef Lifestyle” through Amazon Warehouse Deals. Considering the price, this may be around for a while, and as time goes by, the price may keep dropping. But you never really know for certain.

UPDATE/PSA: beware of bullshit/clickbait/trickbait listings on this and other Amazon products from sellers asking you to contact them before buying and offering them at significantly lower prices. Nothing good will come out of this for you. Ignore it or report it to Amazon, DO NOT BUY! Listings like this violate various Amazon seller rules.

Screenshot below to help consumers identify this danger to their wallets:

contact_before_buy_alert

November 12, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Back In-Stock: Focal Utopia for $4000

I’ll do a refresh of the Headphone Tracker later tonight, but in the meantime, the Focal Utopia is back in-stock at its official price of $4000 by Gramofone thru Amazon. This ships directly from Gramofone, so it is not Prime eligible. It gets free slow shipping but considering the price, selecting the fastest shipping option for $more$ is the logical thing to do.

November 10, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Back In-Stock: Philips X2/27 Fidelio for $248 [was $236]

The Philips X2 open-back over-ear were in the headphone world headlines for the right and the wrong reasons the last few months. They were also in and out of stock, but as 11/11/16 AM of the time of writing, they are back in stock for $248 [was $236] with free shipping, with a limit of five units per customer, at Amazon by Amazon actual.

UPDATE: the price of this bundle no longer tracks, it’s $30+ more expensive than buying the two items separately… NOTE also that starting November 12, Amazon will begin shipping a new Philips X2 bundle, the headphones together with the V-MODA BoomPro, together going for $265, which is the same as buying them separately. I don’t know if the price adjusts automatically based on the two components or it is set separately. At the moment it’s the same.

November 10, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Ends by 3:55pm ET: Beyerdynamic DT880 PREMIUM (250 ohm) for $167 [updated]

This 6-hour lightning deal expired…

[Read more…]

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

[DEAD] AUDEZE LCD-2 Planars for $700

This sale ended… Audeze’s line-up is expanding, but if the LCD-2 is the planar magnetic model the one you want, the aluminum with lambskin edition, you can get it in new condition, from authorized dealer Adorama.com for $700 with free shipping for a limited time.

Speaking of Adorama, they have a Flash Sale on ten Polk Audio speakers. Sale prices range from $375 to $1000.

November 6, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Back In-Stock: Focal Elear for $999

They are back in-stock again, these wallet-killers, the new condition open-back over-ear made-in-France Focal Elear headphones, going for $999 with free shipping by Gramophone thru Amazon. They ship directly from Gramophone (Maryland), so they are not eligible for Prime. As of the time of writing, they have two units available.

But that’s not all, the detailed listings also show that two more authorized retailers have them in-stock for the same price, AudioLAB and ListenUP. These two ship directly, they are not Prime eligible.

November 4, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Massdrop Bombshell: Sennheiser HD6xx for $200 starting on Tuesday

Massdrop dropped a bombshell today! They have their first Sennheiser exclusive deal, and it’s an audiophile level headphone, the HD 6xx, based on the current HD 650 with a detachable 6-foot cable. The drop will go live on November 8 at 9am eastern time. A total of 5000 units will be available, the first 500 of which will get sub-550 serial numbers. They are estimated to ship mid-December 2016. If interested, make sure all your account info at Massdrop is up to date (address, credit card, etc), so you can jump right in when it goes live on Tuesday 11/8/16. These are made in Ireland and come with a 2-year Sennheiser warranty.

massdrop_hd6xx

What does it say about HD 650 prices?
This also raises an interesting question, considering that the current new condition of the HD 650 is $300+. Does this price mean Sennheiser has flexibility in bigger price drops for the HD 650, or is the nature of the Massdrop offer such that allows them to offer it for less because they don’t have to deal with the traditional retailer infrastructure?

November 3, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] AUDEZE LCD-XC Limited Edition (Bocote Wood) for $1349

This sale ended too… The closed-back over-ear AUDEZE LCD-XC Limited Edition (Bocote Wood) are on sale for $1349 with free shipping at authorized dealer Adorama.com until 11/3/16 or earlier if sold out. This is SKU AU1002100 and comes with a 3-year Audeze warranty.

PS: if you don’t see the sale price, refresh the page there. There may be a temporary syncing issue on the prices.

October 27, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Philips X2 back in-stock, going for $271 [was $247]

I am not keeping up with the latest updates on the Philips-Gibson Glue Gate Crisis 2016, but the headphones are back in-stock at Amazon by Amazon actual for $271 [was $247~] with a limit of five units per customer… I added them to the Headphone Tracker until their stock situation stabilizes…

Price updated in the post here on 10/22/16 PM.

October 21, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

[DEAD] Back In-Stock: Focal Elear for $1000

AS of 10/21/16 re-check, these sold out again… For future updates, check the brand new Headphone Tracker…

and if you are looking for the new Focal Elear, we have some good news for you. As of the time of writing, there are two units in-stock for $1000 with free shipping by AudioLAB thru Amazon. These ships directly from AudioLAB, so they are not Prime eligible… Yesterday the brown color of the Sony MDR-1000X was in-stock but as of this update, it has gone out of stock…

If you have any headphones you are interested and you want me to track them, please leave a comment or use the contact form. Twitter account coming during the weekend.

October 20, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[SOLD OUT] Back In-Stock: Focal Elear for $999

As of a 10/19/16 re-check, this one sold-out: We have another Bigfoot sighting, the brand new Focal Elear are in-stock and ready to ship, with one unit available, for $999 with free shipping by AudioLab thru Amazon. This ships directly from AudioLAB, so it is not Prime eligible.

PS: also in-stock are the Focal Utopia for their price of $4000, these ones by Gramophone thru Amazon, again, shipping directly from the seller, so they are not Prime eligible.

PS2: some crackpot theorists suggest the Utopia was created to drive up sales for the Elear 🙂

October 18, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Massdrop x AKG K7XX Red Edition for $200

If you like tasteful red in your open-back headphones, the Massdrop x AKG K7XX Red Edition is back on again, going for $200 with free shipping with a late October 2016 shipping estimate. This is done in co-operation with AKG, so you get a 2-year AKG warranty. Offer ends in about seven days from today (= blog-posting date). A total of 190 units are available as part of this promotion and they are individually serialized (see picture #2 in the gallery over there for the number). I’m assuming the first song to hear on these is Chris deBurgh’s “Lady in Red”? 🙂

October 12, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD 650 for $339

If you need to get the Sennheiser HD 650 yesterday, they are currently on sale for $339 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual. If you don’t need them right away, you can probably wait for the holiday shopping season for better deals.

UPDATE: Jeff points out in the comments this is on sale for GBP 232 in the Amazon UK store if you sign up for a free UK Prime Trial. Based on the 10/7/16 exchange rate, this comes out to $289 US.

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

In-Stock Again: Focal Utopia for $4000

Some crackpot theorists would argue that the existence of the Focal Utopia is to make the Focal Elear look like a great bang for the buck for $1000, but this is not the Art Bell Headphone Hour 🙂 Which brings us to the Focal Utopia, as of the time of writing, there are two units in-stock and ready to ship for the very flagship price of $4000 by Gramophone thru Amazon. They ship directly from Gramophone (of Maryland), so they are not Prime eligible. This is one of the rare cases where using the fastest shipping method is a great idea.

October 2, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD 700 for $420 [less if you make a $1000+ purchase]

Don’t smoke them, it’s just the price 🙂 The new condition open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 700 headphones dropped down to $420 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of five per customer.

OPTIONAL: If you were also planning to purchase more audio gear, and what you want/need happens to participate in this promotion, you can get an even better deal with this promotion, good until 10/1/16: Buy $1000+ on select products and get a $100 Amazon Store credit to spend in the future. The $1000+ can be any combination and quantities of the 260+ eligible products, as long as Amazon actual is the seller. For example, you can get to the $100 credit if you buy three HD 700 units. Check more details on that promotion (the shopping cart verifies your order is eligible, so you don’t have to guess/gamble).

Here’s a screenshot of the shopping cart with three HD 700s in the shopping cart, and confirmation that the order is eligible for this promotion:

sennheiser_hd700_promotion

September 27, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

[DEAD] Audeze LCD-2 (Aluminum or Bamboo) for $700

These two sales expired as well… Another Audeze LCD-2, this one at authorized dealer Adorama.com until 10/3/16 or earlier if sold out, it is two different options of the LCD-2 going for $700 with free shipping, the Aluminum option or the Bamboo option.

September 26, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] In-Stock Now: Focal Elear for $1000

As of 9/27/16 at 3:22pm ET re-check, this listing sold out…

[Read more…]

September 26, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

In-stock again: Focal Utopia (one unit left)

Because I love the juxtaposition of high and low, we now have something on the totally other end of the spectrum from the previously mentioned $5 Koss On-Ears. It’s an availability alert, there is one unit available of the Focal Utopia Reference flagships going for $4000 with free shipping by “HiDEF Lifestyle” through Amazon.com. This ships directly from HiDef so it is not Prime eligible. They are an authorized dealer. It should go without saying, if you are buying this, you must needs pick the fastest delivery method available. You don’t want a $4000 flagship languishing in the slow-shipping lanes 🙂

September 23, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Spend $1000+ in select Premium Audio products, Get $100 Amazon Store Credit for future use (267 options including 27 headphones)

This particular promotion expired 10/1/16…

EXPIRED PROMOTION
This Premium Audio offer is back at Amazon, if you make a purchase of $1000 or more on any combination of select Premium Audio products (267 options), you will receive a $100 Amazon store credit to use in future purchases. This only works if Amazon is the actual seller of the product (not marketplace sellers).

Thankfully you can verify your order qualifies before you make the purchase, because if you have eligible items, the Checkout page (the last step before you place an order) will have a box notifying of this. Screenshot below:

amazon_100_1000_premium_audio

A total of 27 headphones are participating in this promotion including:

  • Sennheiser HD 700, IE 800
  • Beyerdynamic T1 (2nd G), T5p (2nd G), T90
  • B&O Play H8
  • Grado RS2e
  • Sony MDR-Z7
  • Master & Dynamic MH40, MH30
  • Denon MM400
  • Final Audio Design flagship, Sonorous IV
  • Fostex TH-500RP
  • Ultrasone Edition 10 Ltd, TIO, IQ
  • Definite Tech Symphony 1
  • Hifiman HE400i, HE560

REMEMBER: Amazon’s links in the Promotional page do not always point to Amazon’s own listing for the product. For this promotion, you have to make sure Amazon.com is the actual seller, not any of the many marketplace sellers over there.

This offer expires October 1st at 11:59pm pacific. Limit one per customer during this promotion. The $100 credit must be spent by August 2021 (yes, twenty-twenty-one)

September 22, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With:

[DEAD] B&W P5 for $243 [SOLD-OUT: Sennheiser HD 650 for $303] {UPDATED}

These lightning deals expired…

[Read more…]

September 22, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD650 drops to $339, Gift Card Offer Goes Away

As of the time of writing, only two of the Sennheiser + Amazon Gift Card bundles remain (HD280 and HD380). The offers for the HD600 and the HD650 are no longer available (the listing is there but there is no price and no order option). The silver lining of this is that the price of the HD 650 headphones without the card has dropped to $339 with free shipping from Amazon actual.

If you don’t need it right away, it may be a good idea to wait and see what offers the holiday shopping season will bring. In the meantime, there are about five hundred forum threads discussing HD 600 vs HD 650 to keep you busy 🙂

September 13, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

AKG K7XX RED (Massdrop exclusive) for $200

Melisandre’s favorite AKG headphone, the Red edition of the open-back over-ear AKG K7xx, a another Massdrop-exclusive model, is back on again, going for $200 with free shipping and with 10 days to go from today (= blog-posting date). These are serialized units and a total of exactly 622 units is available. Maybe the oddball number is because some of them are taken out to be included as prizes in grab bags? 🙂

These have a reasonable shipping estimate, October 10 in 2016.

September 13, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO 250 Limited Edition for $130

$130 seems to be the trendy price for Beyerdynamic open-back headphones these days 🙂 Not only is the DT 770 Pro 80 Limited Edition (Amazon) going for $130, but so is the DT 990 PRO 250 Limited Edition, this one by Focus Camera on eBay.

September 12, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

In-Stock Now: Focal Utopia Reference for $4000 [ONE left]

UPDATE Thursday 10:47pm ET ~ as of this recheck, there is one left…

ORIGINAL
Flagship headphone action on the Focal front now, their new Utopia Reference headphone is in-stock and ready to ship for $3999 with free shipping by AudioLab thru Amazon. This ships directly from AudioLAB, so it is not Prime eligible. Two units are available as of the time of writing.

Screenshot of the Amazon product page below:

focal_utopia_instock

Considering the flagshipness of this, it is probably a good idea to select the fastest shipping option possible. You don’t want a flagship headphone floating around in delivery trucks for too long 🙂

August 25, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD800 S for $1604

The weight of the tears from the removal of the Sennheiser HD800 S from the Innerfidelity Wall of Fame perhaps weighed down its price, now down to $1604 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual.

PS: the tears part is purely dramatization, the discount looks like a computer-generated price-match of a couple of marketplace sellers offering it for the same price.

August 22, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: ,

Sennheiser HD650 for $300 with coupon (or $285 after MIR)

If you are interested in the open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD650, coupon code 1LENSSAVIN (no G at the end) drops the price down to $300 at Adorama.com (authorized dealer)… If you don’t object to doing a mail-in rebate, there’s also a $15 mail-in rebate offer on it that drops it to $285 after MIR. You have to cup the original UPC code and serial number from the box, make photocopies and snail-mail the rebate form.

PS: the rebate offer ends 8/22/16, the coupon works until it stops working.

PS2: if you want to test whether the coupon is working, you can go to the Checkout page and skip everything to the Payment section. Look for the option there to enter a coupon and enter it in the coupon box (not the gift card box). You don’t have to enter your address and billing info if you just want to test whether the coupon is working.

August 20, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD600 for $250 after coupon (or $235 after MIR)

It’s not just the HD 650, coupon code 1LENSSAVIN (no G at the end) gets you the new condition open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD600 headphones for $250 from authorized dealer Adorama.com…

Optionally you can submit a $15 mail-in rebate and drop it to $235 after MIR. This is a mail-in rebate, so you have to cut off the barcode and serial number and make photocopies and snail-mail things and wait for the rebate to arrive a few weeks later. The rebate offer ends 8/22/16. The coupon is independent of the rebate.

Alternately, if you are a regular Amazon shopper, you can get the same effective price by buying the HD600 with $150 Amazon Gift Card bundled together for $400. On very rare occasions, the gift card may arrive before the headphones ship, and you may be able to apply it towards this purchase (unless they changed how the shopping cart deals with gift card bundles).

August 20, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,

Fostex TH-900 Mark II for $999

Fostex the people! The Fostex TH-900 Mark II Premium 1.5 Tesla headphones are currently on sale in new condition for $999 with free shipping and handling by Adorama.com until 8/22/16 or earlier if sold out. These are closed-back over-ears.

August 18, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , ,

Sennheiser HD800 S with $100 Store Credit for $1662

The Sennheiser HD800 S currently goes for $1662.04 at Amazon by Amazon actual (make sure Amazon is the actual seller, not a marketplace seller which sells it for $1 less).

This headphone is part of a promotion that gets you a $100 Amazon Store Credit if you make a $1000+ premium audio purchase from a list of 250+ items. The first link here points to the Amazon’s own listing. The listing in the promotional page points to the default product page which currently features the marketplace seller. Make sure the seller is Amazon actual, otherwise you won’t get the $100 promotional credit (or Sennheiser warranty).

If you qualify for the credit, you will see this box appear magically in the Amazon Checkout page:

qualified for $100 Amazon Premium Audio Store credit

You will receive the $100 credit after this order ships, so you have to use it in the future, not against this order. For more on this promotion, check our previous write-up.

Time-wise, this looks like it may be a computerized price-match of the $1661 marketplace seller, so the price may return to $1699 either after some random period of time or when the lower priced listing ends. I have no way of knowing this. The $100 promotional credit is good regardless of $1662 or $1699 as long as Amazon actual is the actual seller.

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

[DEAD] Used HiFiMAN HE6 Planars for $850 (scratched)

As of 8/7/16 late PM re-check, the $850 scratched option is no longer available. The lowest price there as of this time is $1100+…

[Read more…]

August 4, 2016 Filed Under: headphones Tagged With: , , ,