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Master "deals" (massdrop, ebay, Amazon, etc.) Thread on Audio Product Sales

sweetchaos

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Sennheiser HD 660 S
Now US$413, but was on sale for US$326 (21% drop) on amazon.com (lowest price in the last year) last night.

So this must be one of the silliest sales I've seen...since it started last night at midnight (on the west coast), and stopped at 5am.
So, if you're on the west coast, you wouldn't have gotten the deal....unless you don't sleep after midnight.
On the east coast, you might have had a chance before 8am.

What a great deal, and I do hope it comes back soon.
 

hmscott

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Hi!, this isn't so much a deal as a heads-up that today is the last day to order many DAC's or devices with DAC's before the prices go up after midnight tonight, new higher prices start tomorrow Jan 1st, 2021!!

IDK why the ESS based units would go up, but hey - capitalism! Yay!!

Notice From DAC Brands: Product Prices Update From 1st January — HiFiGo

December 30, 2020 Hifigo
Notice From DAC Brands: Product Prices Update From 1st January

As we all know a mishappening happened at the Asahi Kasei Microsystems(AKM Technologies) largest factory at Nobeoka City, Japan. The was a massive three-day fire during late October this year. This disastrous event is hurting numerous top Pro-audio manufacturers around the globe due to the abundance of HiFi AKM DAC and ADC chips. This is now affecting the price of audio gears as there is a huge shortage of DAC chips in the market that has resulted in an increment in prices. The latest updated prices on affected products will be live starting 1st January 2021. But till then you can still order products at their current prices. Here’s a list of affected products and their price update.
1609459698495.png

More info at the link above and below. Hifigo are usually very responsive and helpful via email queries: [email protected]
https://hifigo.com/blogs/news/disaster-at-akm-factory-affecting-product-prices#

IDK what other retailers' plans are, but I would check around for similar notices going up at your favorite audio equipment suppliers.

Update: It is now Jan 1st 2021 in China where Hifigo.com resides...

8:25 AM
Friday, January 1, 2021 (GMT+8)
Time in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

Too late to order from Hifigo, but other resellers still on December 31st will hopefully still have the old pricing.

Good luck!!
 
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sweetchaos

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Active Bookshelf:
Mackie CR8-XBT
Was US$350/pair, now on sale for US$320/pair (9% drop) on amazon.com (lowest price this year)
8" woofer, with bluetooth.

Mackie CR5-X
Was US$200/pair, now on sale for US$170/pair (15% drop) on amazon.com (lowest price this year)
5" woofer, no bluetooth.

Mackie CR4-X
Was US$150/pair, now on sale for US$141/pair (6% drop) on amazon.com (lowest price this year)
4" woofer, no bluetooth.
 

Robbo99999

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Ooo, AKG K702 headphones now 14% off in the UK, dropped to £102 on Amazon, limited time deal.....it's about the cheapest this headphone has ever been apart from a relatively brief blip end of 2019, but price has been steadily increasing since then.....I just bought another pair of them because they're my favourite headphone so far by a long shot & I don't know if they'll stop making them, this will be an extra pair for me to last a decade or longer if these are gonna be my final headphone. P.S. you might have to solder the wires back on in the earcups during your time with them (it's a known production weakness), because mine failed on me after around a year, but since I soldered the wires properly it's not failed since. (For best experience EQ this headphone)
 

Veri

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Ooo, AKG K702 headphones now 14% off in the UK, dropped to £102 on Amazon, limited time deal.....it's about the cheapest this headphone has ever been apart from a relatively brief blip end of 2019, but price has been steadily increasing since then.....I just bought another pair of them because they're my favourite headphone so far by a long shot
Kinda polarising headphones though, I hated them haha. Very dry "studio" sound, in my experience.
 

bobbooo

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Ooo, AKG K702 headphones now 14% off in the UK, dropped to £102 on Amazon, limited time deal.....it's about the cheapest this headphone has ever been apart from a relatively brief blip end of 2019, but price has been steadily increasing since then.....I just bought another pair of them because they're my favourite headphone so far by a long shot & I don't know if they'll stop making them, this will be an extra pair for me to last a decade or longer if these are gonna be my final headphone. P.S. you might have to solder the wires back on in the earcups during your time with them (it's a known production weakness), because mine failed on me after around a year, but since I soldered the wires properly it's not failed since. (For best experience EQ this headphone)

Hmm I'm tempted...not that I need any more headphones! The only things holding me back are no Oratory measurements/EQ (although Crinacle has measured them so maybe Oratory could make an EQ profile from that), and relatively high distortion as measured by Innerfidelity around the frequencies our ears are more sensitive to:

Screenshot_20210101-103911_Acrobat for Samsung.png
 

Robbo99999

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Hmm I'm tempted...not that I need any more headphones! The only things holding me back are no Oratory measurements/EQ (although Crinacle has measured them so maybe Oratory could make an EQ profile from that), and relatively high distortion as measured by Innerfidelity around the frequencies our ears are more sensitive to:

View attachment 102818
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna send him my K702 with both existing old pads and new pads, so he can test old vs new pads....I'll send it to him first quarter of this year after the BREXIT stuff has died down. I'll get the same factory spec of pads from Thomann, I won't change them for a different design of pads, as K702 has some great properties and I don't want to start messing with the design.

At the moment I'm super happy with my EQ I did for K702 based on Innerfidelity measurements using jaakopasenen's Calibrated Harman Target Curve, but I figured I'd get Oratory to measure my K702's too (he said he'd do it which is good of him). Also, thinking about it, given I really like my current EQ for the K702's it would be super interesting to superimpose my EQ on any future measurements Oratory does of my headphone, and if it turns out I like my current EQ more than any EQ based on Oratory's measurment then I can apply my existing EQ filters to Oratory's measurement and see where it differs to the Harman Target Curve because perhaps that's a way of identifying a Target Curve that is closer to my own HRTF.....I'd then be able to use Oratory's measurements of other headphones I have to EQ to my own personally determined Target Curve.....but this is all supposing I like my current EQ filter set more than anything I'd base on Oratory's measurement after I've sent him my headphone.

EDIT: I got really poor results using Crinacle's measurement of the K702, I'm not sure what's up with that.....I'm fairly certain his particular measurement of the K702 he tested does not reflect the reality of my own K702 at all....it was a very muddy/woolly & ill-defined sound when I used his measurement.
 
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Robbo99999

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Kinda polarising headphones though, I hated them haha. Very dry "studio" sound, in my experience.
I definitely prefer them EQ'd to fit the Harman Curve, so I'm not recommending them on their stock sound...although I was quite happy with them at stock before I discovered EQ and before I invested in some flat studio monitors to compare them against, so I've just learnt more & changed what I think is good sound since I first had them.
 

bobbooo

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I'm pretty sure I'm gonna send him my K702 with both existing old pads and new pads, so he can test old vs new pads....I'll send it to him first quarter of this year after the BREXIT stuff has died down. I'll get the same factory spec of pads from Thomann, I won't change them for a different design of pads, as K702 has some great properties and I don't want to start messing with the design.

At the moment I'm super happy with my EQ I did for K702 based on Innerfidelity measurements using jaakopasenen's Calibrated Harman Target Curve, but I figured I'd get Oratory to measure my K702's too (he said he'd do it which is good of him). Also, thinking about it, given I really like my current EQ for the K702's it would be super interesting to superimpose my EQ on any future measurements Oratory does of my headphone, and if it turns out I like my current EQ more than any EQ based on Oratory's measurment then I can apply my existing EQ filters to Oratory's measurement and see where it differs to the Harman Target Curve because perhaps that's a way of identifying a Target Curve that is closer to my own HRTF.....I'd then be able to use Oratory's measurements of other headphones I have to EQ to my own personally determined Target Curve.....but this is all supposing I like my current EQ filter set more than anything I'd base on Oratory's measurement after I've sent him my headphone.

EDIT: I got really poor results using Crinacle's measurement of the K702, I'm not sure what's up with that.....I'm fairly certain his particular measurement of the K702 he tested does not reflect the reality of my own K702 at all....it was a very muddy/woolly & ill-defined sound when I used his measurement.

In that case I might just wait until you've sent your pair to Oratory to be measured before I decide whether to buy them ;) Maybe your poor results using Crinacle's measurements are mostly down to unit variation though, so measurements of your particular unit might not be that relevant to any unit I might get...
 

raistlin65

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Because prices of suport electric parts went up and supplie chain's broke up. It's same in Taiwan and China meaning everywhere and across the whole industry. Same happened for PC MB's and other parts.

As John Yang pointed out in the L30 thread, the price changes for US customers are due to the devaluation of the US dollar vs Chinese currency.

yuan to dollar.png

As the US continues to engage in quantitive easing, expect inflation for all imported products where the US dollar has devalued relative to the exporter's currency.
 

VMAT4

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On Woot, an Amazon Company, AKG N700NC M2 headphones $119.99 + tax (299.99 MSRP).
 

raistlin65

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https://www.tomshardware.com/amp/news/intel-chipset-shortage-motherboard-prices-skyrocket
The whole audio industry is a small one compared to the any major MB manufacturer & I told across the board in whole industry. We all see but certainly it's a on going trend.


No doubt that some shortages that have been going on since last spring are a contributing factor.

But the AKM factory fire in Nov, and the dollars devaluation slide this fall are the big factors in audio pricing increases from Chinese manufacturers. This is happening across the board with the new year with Chinese products, not just Topping. Other vendors that also drop ship from China (Hifigo & Shenzhenaudio)
have also raised their prices like Apos as of the Jan 1st.

Some of the US-based vendors haven't raised prices yet on the Chinese manufactured products they have in stock, but everyone can bet it's coming next time they order a new shipment.
 

Robbo99999

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In that case I might just wait until you've sent your pair to Oratory to be measured before I decide whether to buy them ;) Maybe your poor results using Crinacle's measurements are mostly down to unit variation though, so measurements of your particular unit might not be that relevant to any unit I might get...
Yeah, maybe, although generally there's not massive variance from unit to unit in headphones that I'm aware, so I doubt that will be an issue. Also, mine sound pretty spot on to my flat reference speakers with the jaakopasanen's Calibrated Harman Curve based on Innerfidelity measurements, so I would think the chances are quite slim that I have an unusual set of K702's. I'll post up somewhere when I get my K702's measured by Oratory so that you can see the results.
 

Harmonie

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