The Deals Thread

Sonic has an open box Koss ESP950 for $450. Says they're an authorized dealer.
https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_130327_Koss-ESP950-Open-Box-Complete.html
And for the savvy, coupon code THANKYOUVETERANS brings it down to $404. Egad.

 

I posted a deal for the Essential Phone a week ago, but apparently Sprint has a promotion that effectively makes the outright price for the phone ~$160-200 USD. Somewhat YMMV, but that's a slam-dunk, no-brainer price, especially since most of this phone's issues have been fixed through software updates and it now supports LineageOS, for those into custom ROMs.

Not 100% sure how the Sprint promo works because we don't have Sprint in Canada, but it looks like plenty of people have gotten in on the deal.

 

Looks like Hifiman is bringing the HE-5 back for black friday, but it is coupled with the EF100 amplifier.

 

Interesting. Looks like the housing is plastic.

 

I'm super curious what ? equals. If its an actual HE-5, and not a plastic knock off, then couldn't it get sent to @LFF for the real deal treatment?

 

Honestly who knows what other silent revisions HFM has done. Didn’t they change the magnets on the 400i a few years back and sold those off in the BF sale?

 

Whoah

 

Maybe hfm knows that people want their older and actually good headphones pretty bad, so they're trying to offload that crap amp along with them LOL

 

Considering how long ago the HE-5 were discontinued, Im surprised they brought it back this year. If they already had the drivers/old stock (which doesnt seem to be the case with the new housing), this might have happened in earlier years. So it seems like they started the production again? So yes, not entirely sure what the revisions would be outside of the housing not being wood anymore. I'd also be curious to know why they brought back the HE-5 and not the HE-6. Pairing the HE-5 with the EF100 for the sale is a poor idea considering nobody really likes the EF100 all that much, and it's a hard sell used.

 

Because everybody keeps squawking about the HE-6 being the best, but Fang will never admit to being wrong after all his pushing for nano schmamo diaphragms after the whole Edition 6 fiasco. He even posted once that they could voice something specifically to sound like the HE-6 but (I'm paraphrasing) they knew how to do better than that now. This will ensure that the original will never see the light of day again; too much pride for that.

But, if he secretly knows the old stuff was better, then he can revisit the he-5 as a "classic" revision and will be lauded for it.

 

Ah, a reaction to Audeze?

 

LOL. Audeze Classic. HFM Classic. SNES Classic. A lot of the time they really don’t make shit like they used to!

If only studio engineers would take a similar approach...

 

A third party seller (I think authorized hifiman dealer) is selling HE560 for $399 in amazon

 

It’s hifi haven, an authorized dealer. Very reputable. They have a demo and a new one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00K6JEYD4/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

 

I want to get a better planar than my HE500 and I almost decided to spend 3k on HEK v2. You think that I should start looking for used HE-6 instead?

 

^^ Agreed. Plus the he-6 opens a rabbit hole of feeding it with a speaker amp. Comfort is not very good as it is quite heavy by todays standards. He500 is still a very good headphone.

 

Thank you, I think it is very sensible advice.I have focus pads, will try Audeze vegan pads. I was not even thinking about Susvara!. But HE-6 used can be found around $900 so if it means for example improved resolution I would consider this.

 

Has anybody bought a $1.76 "3 year protection plan" for the focus-a pads? I read that these pads don't hold up for more than a few months. Will the protection plan cover deterioration over time?