List of Amir's Recommended Headphones, for Canadians

[sweetchaos]

This thread is intended for Canadian shoppers, looking to purchase headphones.

Inspiration for this thread:
- Since I tend to visit the same websites everyday to check for a deal, I figure I'd share this info to save others time

Limitations of this thread:
- I'm only posting links for headphones that you can buy directly. If a reseller lists they carry "Hifiman" headphones, but with no link to purchase, then I won't include the link.
- Headphone that Amir measured with GRAS 45CA-10 since Dec 3, 2020.

Items I'm not including:
- None so far

Notes on purchasing from international sellers:
- Check international links. Find the total cost after shipping/taxes, then do the currency conversion. Keep in mind not all sellers charge for import duties. So if you purchase an item and it had no duties included, then you *might* need to pay for it once you receive the package.
- Sweetwater says they don't ship to Canada, but you can ship to a US postal box (PO box) close to border, and drive to pick it up. Duties will be charged.
- See this link to calculate how much duties you'll pay, if driving across the border.
- Other sellers (like drop, bhphotovideo, adorama) do ship directly to a Canadian address, but if you live near the border, calculate the difference if you were to ship to a US postal box (PO box) yourself, to see if there's any additional savings in shipping cost.

List of US/International sellers who ship to Canada directly (sorted A-Z):
- adorama
- aliexpress
- amazon.com
- bhphotovideo
- crutchfield
- drop

Legend:
- WP => 'Wrong Picture' shown on the website, which doesn't match the indented headphones.

Do you want to see a full list of Canadian headphone resellers/dealers?
Go to my master thread.

_________________________________________________
Recommended Headphones (sorted CDN $-$$):
- Headphones that received "Relaxed/Lounging Panther Award"

Sony MDR-ZX110 Normally CDN$25, but sometimes on sale for CDN$18
-Canada (black): amazon.ca, amazon.ca2, amazon.ca3, electroniquehifi, addison-electronique, staples, canadacomputers, londondrugs, thesource, henrys(WP), bestbuy, walmart, cdw, newegg, stereoplus, hdtvandelectronics
-Canada (white): amazon.ca, amazon.ca2, electroniquehifi, addison-electronique, staples, canadacomputers, londondrugs, thesource, bestbuy, walmart, cdw, newegg, hdtvandelectronics
-USA (but can ship to Canada) (black): amazon.com, amazon.com2, adorama, bhphotovideo
-USA (but can ship to Canada) (white): amazon.com, amazon.com2, adorama, bhphotovideo

Superlux HD668B CDN$65
-Canada: amazon.ca, avshop, newegg
-USA (but can ship to Canada): amazon.com, drop, bhphotovideo
-International (but can ship to Canada): aliexpress (may or may not be legit)

Audio-Technica ATH-M50X CDN$219
-Canada (black): tomleemusic, long-mcquade, memoryexpress, bestbuy, canadacomputers, walmart, spectacularsounds, stevesmusic, acclaim-music, avshop, gsbts, cosmomusic, fleetsound, lauzonmusic, musiccitycanada, headfoneshop, economik, darkhorse, musicredone, addison-electronique, laytonaudio, moogaudio, musiquegagne, newegg, amazon.ca
-Canada (white): tomleemusic, long-mcquade, canadacomputers, stevesmusic, avshop, lauzonmusic, musiccitycanada, economik, darkhorse, musicredone, moogaudio, musiquegagne, amazon.ca
-Canada (blue): avshop, amazon.ca
-Canada (purple): avshop, moogaudio, amazon.ca
-Canada (red): amazon.ca

Alternatively, ATH-M50xBT (aka the bluetooth version) CDN$279
-Canada (black): thesource, headphonebar, tomleesmusic, long-mcquade, canadacomputers, costco, londondrugs, thepowercentre, stevesmusic, vinylsounds, acclaim-music, avshop, electronicsforless, baybloorradio, bosssound, musiccitycanada, economik, darkhorse, musicredone, addison-electronique, laytonaudio, moogaudio, musiquegagne, amazon.ca
-Canada (white): n/a
-Canada (purple): vinylsounds, musicredone, moogaudio, amazon.ca

Hifiman HE400i 2016 CDN$240
-Canada: amazon.ca, codellaudio, hifipro, electronicsforless, walmart, acoustic-tech, shop.simcoeav.ca
-USA (but can ship to Canada): amazon.com, drop, bhphotovideo

NAD Viso HP50 CDN$330
-Canada (black): amazon.ca, rosemac.rawintegrated, laytonaudio,
-USA (but can ship to Canada) (black): amazon.com, crutchfield.com

Bowers & Wilkins P5 CDN$485
-Canada: amazon.ca, laytonaudio
-USA (but can ship to Canada) (black): amazon.com

Sony WH-1000XM4 CDN$500
-Canada (black): sony.ca, amazon.ca, bestbuy, atlasavu, baxaudiovideo, baybloorradio, fillion, gibbyselectronicssupermarket, maisonadam, advance.mb, canadacomputers, crutchfield.ca, electroniquehifi, londondrugs, memoryexpress, newegg, staples, stereoplus, sunnyelectronics, thesource, visions, costco, cdw, dell, wstore.uwaterloo, donsphoto, donnyb, thepowercentre, products.yorkdale, swiftronics, thecactusgroup, walmart, peakaudio.ns, sonxplus, teletime, electronicsforless, fulllineelectronics
-Canada (silver): sony.ca, amazon.ca, bestbuy, baxaudiovideo, bayblooraudio, fillion, advance.mb, canadacomputers, crutchfield.ca, electroniquehifi, londondrugs, stereoplus, sunnyelectronics, thesource, visions, cdw, dell, donnyb, thepowercentre, products.yorkdale, swiftronics, thecactusgroup, costco, walmart, sonxplus, teletime, fulllineelectronics
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(black): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo, crutchfield.com
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(silver): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo, crutchfield.com
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(blue-special): amazon.com

Sennheiser HD650 CDN$600
-Bonus: Amir recommends these headphones, even with no EQ.
-Canada: amazon.ca, cgmelectronics, soundroom, long-mcquade, soundsfantastic, cosmomusic, fleetsound, acclaim-music, newegg, economik, musicredone, moogaudio, soundobsessionsavu, avshop, tomleemusic, henrys, gsbts
-USA (but can ship to Canada): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo,
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup): sweetwater

Sennheiser HD800S CDN$2,200
-Canada: amazon.ca, cgmelectronics, headphonebar, soundroom, advance, soundsfantastic, baybloorradio, headfoneshop, naturalsound, crutchfield.ca, economik, fillion, laytonaudio, laytonaudio(anniversary edition), soundobsessionsavu, hifiheadphones, headphones, planetofsound, acoustic-tech, quebecacoustic
-USA (but can ship to Canada): amazon.com, drop, bhphotovideo,
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup): sweetwater

_________________________________________________
Highly Recommended Headphones (sorted CDN $-$$):
- Headphones that received "Golfing/Soccer Panther Award"

AKG K371 CDN$215 [or when sale for CDN$170] for K371
-Bonus: Amir recommends these headphones, even with no EQ.
-2 versions available: K371(wired version) and K371-BT (wired and bluetooth). Other differences.

Spoiler: Warning about purchasing these on Amazon.ca

-Canada (K371): amazon.ca, acclaim-music, stevesmusic,
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(K371): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup)(K371): sweetwater

Alternatively, K371-BT (the bluetooth version) is CDN$280 [or when sale for CDN$210]
-Canada (K371-BT): amazon.ca, economik, darkhorse, acclaim-music, avshop, long-mcquade, musicredone, stevesmusic, sight-sound, shopses
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(K371-BT): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup)(K371-BT): sweewater

Bose QuietComfort 35 II CDN$400
-Bonus: Amir recommends these headphones, even with no EQ.
-Canada (black): amazon.ca, walmart, bose.ca, staples, tsc, thesource, andreselectronicexperts, crutchfield.ca, newegg, newegg2, bestbuy, advance.mb.ca, mainsonadam, stereoplus, fulllineelectronics, easthamiltonradio.on.ca, dell
-Canada (silver): amazon.ca, walmart, bose.ca, staples, tsc, thesource, andreselectronicexperts, crutchfield.ca, bestbuy, advance.mb.ca, maisonadam, fulllineelectronics, easthamiltonradio.on.ca, dell
-Canada (rose gold): staples, tsc, thesource, fulllineelectronics
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(black): amazon.com, adorama, bhphotovideo, drop
-USA (but can ship to Canada)(silver): amazon.com, adorama, silver
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup)(black): sweetwater
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup)(silver):

Hifiman Sundara CDN$490
-Canada: headphonebar, headphones, walmart, deskhero, shop.simcoeav.ca, headfoneshop, audioexcellence, electronicsforless, planetofsoundonline, amazon.ca(since 2018), amazon.ca(since2020), quebecacoustic, magasinaudiolight, maisonadam, laytonaudio, laliberteelectronique

Dan Clark Audio AEON RT (closed-back) US$500 + US$30 shipping to Canada + duties? =>CDN$670
-Bonus: Amir recommends these headphones, even with no EQ.
-2 versions available: open-back and closed-back. Differences1, Differences2.
-USA (but can ship to Canada): danclarkaudio.com

Alternatively, AEON Closed X (from drop)
-USA (but can ship to Canada) (AEON Closed X): drop (US$479 + US$15 shipping to Canada + duties?). Differences.

Hifiman HE-6 (when available, cost US$1300)
Discontinued now.
-Canada: walmart.ca

Alternatively, Hifiman HE6SE (don't know the difference):
-Canada: electronicsforless, amazon.ca, deskhero, quebecacoustic, headphones.ca

Focal Utopia CDN$4990
-Canada: amazon.ca, gramophone.mybigcommerce.com, atlasavu (demo), headphones, hifiheadphones, spinnerssoundcentre, creativeaudio, store.advance.mb.ca, bestbuy.ca, bestbuy.ca2, audiobasics, baybloorradio, fastforwardavu, headphoneshop, trutone, kennedy-hifi, enmansavu, laytonaudio, laliberteelectronique, fillion, magasinaudiolight, musicredone
-USA (ships to Canada): amazon.com, adorama.com, bhphotovideo
-USA (must ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup): sweetwater

Alternatively, Focal Utopia 2020 (newer version):
"Pretty sure all they did was add a XLR cable and a carrying case in the 2020 version." (source)
-Canada: headphonebar.com, audioshop.on.ca, baybloorradio, vinylsound, noteworthyaudio, quebecacoustic, audiophileexperts
-USA (but ship to Canada): adorama.com, bhphotovideo

_________________________________________________

Changelog:
2021-01-12. First 5 headphones added (Superlux HD668B, Hifiman HE400i 2016, NAD Viso HP50, Sennheiser HD650, Sennheiser HD800S)
2021-01-14: Dan Clark Audio AEON RT.
2021-01-14: Separated US sellers from International sellers
2021-01-16: Added small photos of each
2021-01-18: Sony MDR-ZX110
2021-01-22: AKG K371
2021-01-26: Sony WH-1000XM4
2021-01-26: Added 'Recommendation, even with no EQ'
2021-01-28: Added 'Master list of Canadian Headphone Resellers/Dealers'
2021-02-12: Added Bowers & Wilkins P5
2021-02-20: Added Bose QuietComfort 35 II
2021-03-01: Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT
2021-03-22: Hifiman HE-6
2021-04-03: Focal Utopia
2021-04-16: Hifiman Sundara

 

[Harmonie]

I like your posts and regret that I can't benefit.

Where is your other based in EU ?

 

[sweetchaos]

Improvements:

Separated:
- International sellers, that are outside of USA, that ship to Canada
- USA sellers, but can ship to Canada directly
- USA sellers, but require to ship to US PO box first, then drive to pickup

 

[Jaimo]

Thanks SweetChaos - very useful. Especially for gift selection...

 

[sweetchaos]

Improvements:

Added:
-Bonus: Amir recommends these headphones, even with no EQ.

There are 3 so far:
-AKG 371
-Dan Clark Aeon RT
-Sennheiser HD650

 

[sweetchaos]

Improvements:

Added:
- Link to my master spreadsheet that lists all Canadian headphone resellers/dealers (160 total so far)