I was pretty active on Head-Fi at the time and snatched up this deal when someone posted it. I think the HD800 was still $1500 at the time.
Though that is probably not even my greatest “steal”, which could be loosely seen at actually stealing. I bought the Fostex TH-900 from a relatively new online vendor, and they accidentally sent me 2 of them. I checked and legally in the US when a merchant sends you something you didn’t order, you aren’t required to send it back. I held onto it for a bit and that company never contacted me about it and I sold it new in box for $900. I guess they were too disorganized to notice.
I’m not all entirely lucky or wise with money. I bought the Hifiman Edition X on release for $1400 and similar tier headphones like Edition XS are less than $500 now. But I still like them enough for it to be a permanent part of my collection.
All my steals came when you could buy things on Amazon US and ship them to Oz for virtually nothing, and Amazon Australia didn’t exist. They weren’t really steals from a US perspective - just US Amazon prices on things, which were always at least 30% off domestic prices. Now we have a shitty third rate version of Amazon, the brand products on US Amazon either don’t ship or ship at exorbitant prices, and the only ‘bargains’ are chifi- which are in any case still cheaper on Aliexpress. But for a few years, there were good times.
I got a Pair of Grado SR60 for $5 at a Yard Sale. Still have them and listen to them on occasion.
Think my most recent was was a brand new Utopia 2020 with warranty for about $1.3k
Damn that’s insane. I got a used pair recently for $1800 and felt incredibly lucky (I still feel very lucky) but brand new for $1300 is nuts.
Not much of a steal compared to you and a few others here, but I ordered a Moondrop variation for 392 (msrp 520) from linsoul. It’s a preorder though so I have to wait a while before I get it.
One of the best IEMs i have ever tried
Pair of green Q701s for 10 bucks at a TV show liquidation.
Got a pair of Arya V2s for that price about a year ago. Far, far more impressive at that time than now 😔
Got the Schiit Bifrost 2, Valhalla 2, and Jotunheim 1 w/ DAC in a bundle.for $850 (~$961 after tax and shipping).
Got the Blue Ella headphones for ~$260 about a year ago, retail was $700 in 2017.
Hard to get great deals in headphones, in my experience. Far better deals are to be had in stereo.
AKG K612 pro for about 100 usd in Brasil (where everything costs twice as normal)
IE900 for 950 AUD. Dunu Vulkan for 335 AUD Beyer Xelento 900 AUD. HD660S2 for 550AUD.
Plus an Astron SSJ007 for 1800Aud.
For anybody unfamiliar, Australian dollars are worth less than the plastic they’re printed on, so these are indeed good deals
Utopia 2022 brand new for around $2,200 USD give or take this past Sept.
I’m kicking myself for not taking more advantage of this sale. The fact they used shoppay made it trivial to have them ship to a proxy shipper, and somehow shoppay charged 0% sales tax. I got the clear for $700ish all-in and noticed they had the HD800s for $1100. But by the time I got my Clear and verified the entire process works they raised their prices on all their Focal and Sennheiser headphones.
Damn I wish I knew about this. Would’ve jumped all over it.
Dekoni elite velour pads for $15 flat.
Aeon 2 Noire for $520
Got a pair of DT770 80ohms at goodwill for $8 in near mint condition and the pads look never worn.
That’s a great 8$ headphone!
I pay you $20 for them, pla send lol
Dang!
Not even on Black Friday, just some internal system fuckup by Walmart. Ordered 2 car seats, Walmart sent an email that the order had been cancelled. Ordered same ones in a different color through Amazon, literally a day after the ones from Amazon arrived the ones from Walmart showed up. Returned the ones from Amazon because I liked the Walmart color way better and Walmart ender did chaste the nearly $800 for them. It had been budgeted for but it was nice to be able to use that money towards other essentials.
My personal top 3 audio gear deals:
I’ve gotten a lot of great Chi-fi IEM deals too but don’t feel like screenshotting and posting them all.
People hated the HD700’s so much…
People were expecting HD 800 performance for a fraction of the price. HD 700 has a bit of a treble spike around 7K but is easily fixable with EQ, a good copper cable, and/or tube amp. The few reviewers around back then unfairly slammed the headphone for that treble peak without mentioning all of the good things about it. Still one of my favorite audio gear 9 years later.
I had them and an 800 at the same time, they weren’t as bad as everyone said they were
Wow–and I thought I got a great deal on the IE 600!
Got a Sennheiser PC360 for 30 bucks back in 2018, had a slight problem with the volume not being able to go 100% but otherwise it was in pretty damn good condition with the mic and the sound itself crystal clear + it didn’t stink.
Pretty hard to find any decent headphones/headsets in Indonesia that is associated with a big brand to be priced so damn cheap, and I remember the GAME ONE was going for a lot back then so it was a no brainer for me.
I got a pair of hifiman aryas for 250 usd on fb marketplace previously owned by Tyler Perry
Why was he selling them?
How do you like them compared to other Hifiman?
