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Black Friday Headphone Deals 2018

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Black Friday Headphone Deals 2018

27/11/2018-30/11/2018

So… here’s the thing. We all love headphones, and we all love getting them for less money. And trying to navigate all the chaotic savings on Black Friday can be pretty intimidating. So we thought: why not just… keep the doors open longer?

black friday mega sale

It’s baaa-aaaack! We thought long and hard about it decided to keep the savings available until Friday at midnight, to give you a more relaxed pace for what is often a serious, intimate purchase. So get in touch, come visit us in our demo room, or just give yourself time to mull it over- we know buying a headphone is a process! And we’re here to help.

23/11/2018-26/11/2018

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the BLACK FRIDAY MEGA SALE! From this very moment until Cyber Monday night at midnight, all of our Black Friday sales are live and kicking. Absolutely everything in our entire Black Friday 2018 category is reduced for the next four days!

We will be in today (Friday) and Monday (Monday) to help if you’d like to call in and chat or ask questions. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We don’t bite!

 

22/11/2018

Today we’re changing things up a little! We’ve been offering up selected items from each brand these past two weeks, but today we’ve only got one spectacular item on offer: today we’re reducing price on the fabulous Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen Special Black Edition!

Beyerdynamic was founded in 1924, and if you know the brand you know they’ve been changing the game on top-grade personal audio since then. The T1 2nd Generation is a semi-open back headphone with an incredibly spacious soundstage, and a detachable cable. By all accounts it is a worthy successor to its legendary older sibling, but with a sleek black makeover and updated materials. Not only is this sale limited to 1000 units worldwide, FOREVER, but this sale is even more limited. Get your hands on it while you can!

 

21/11/2018

It’s a big day, and one that we’re really excited about. If you were holding out, now’s the time to reconsider, because today is the day we drop our Campfire Audio sale.

Campfire Audio began as a series of experimentations with different materials, drawing on experiences in personal audio to create something new and essential for audiophiles. These profoundly unique, exquisite headphones and IEMs deliver truly singular experiences in sound, owing to their masterful craftsmanship. If you’re interested but would like more information, feel free to get in touch with us. We love to talk about them! Like our other sales, this will end at midnight, so be sure to act quickly if you want to take advantage!

 

20/11/2018

We’re back and ready to rock, so let’s move things along with our next sale: it’s over to our friends at Shanling!

Founded in 1988, Shanling first produced its first item: an amplifier. Since then, Shanling’s commitment to independent research and development has allowed them to blaze unique trails in personal audio. The M-series players, specifically, have broken the mold with their intuitive interfaces and compact sizes. If you’re looking for a really high-quality player and DAC, you can’t go wrong with a Shanling, and today’s the perfect day to upgrade! Our Shanling sale will end at midnight!

 

19/11/2018

Happy Monday, savings lovers! We hope you’ve had a great weekend full of mirth and merriment, and maybe also some headphone savings. To ease us back into the swing of things, we thought we’d skip back to one of our previous sales- today we’re going to drop the price once again on Westone!

As before, these discounts will only last until midnight, so jump to our sale page and make sure you get what you need before time runs out!

 

16/11/2018-18/11/2018

Happy Friday! We hope you’ve been having fun so far- we know we have! To round off our first week of wheeling and dealing, we’re excited to show off our first weekend-long sale. It’s not the last sale, but it’s certainly the Final sale.

The beautiful craftsmanship and high-quality audio are the hallmarks of today’s brand, Final. Originally established in 1974 by Kanemori Takai, Final have skyrocketed to become synonymous with beauty, finesse, and precision. Their gorgeous Heaven series feature balanced armature drivers and unique sound signatures between models, keeping Final’s foot firmly in the door of the world’s greatest.  These will be back to normal at midnight on Sunday night, so act quickly!

 

15/11/2018

Good morning, everyone! We’re back bright and early to introduce our next day of Black Friday discounts. Have you had a good night’s sleep? A nice breakfast? Some damn fine coffee? We need you energised for what we’ve got planned today- it’s time for Flare day!

Flare have been pursuing their visionary goal for five years now- founder Davies Roberts’s ambition to produce distortion-free personal audio products drives Flare’s innovation. They draw inspiration from their experience in the music industry, giving them a strong sense of the issues that need to be resolved. We’ve got a ton of good stuff from Flare for you today, so get crackin’! They poof at midnight!

 

14/11/2018

Another day, another brand! Today we’re offering up our next discounts in our three-week Black Friday sales event- that’s right! It’s Fidue day!

Fidue, helmed by lead engineer and designer Benny Tan (20 years of experience!), are masters of the craft of delicately tuned IEMs. They strive to reproduce sound accurately and clearly, maintaining detail and neutrality. We have several gorgeous models on offer today, so take a good look! You have until midnight!

 

13/11/2018

Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a good night’s sleep to recover from those bargains. But there’s no time to waste! We’re back for day two of our Black Friday sales with our second big beautiful brand highlight: Westone!

Westone are quick to point out that they are the world’s largest manufacturer of custom ear pieces, and there’s good reason why- they’ve been around since 1959, so they’ve had plenty of time to sink their teeth into the market. Their IEMs are legendary, and they’ve been around long enough to innovate by leaps and bounds over the evolution of personal audio.

Get on this deal before midnight, because the wheel must keep turning!

12/11/2018

Good morning, everyone! It’s our first day of our three weeks of Black Friday savings, and we’re kicking things off with our first fantastic brand highlight. First out of the gate, it’s the fabulous SoundMAGIC!

SoundMAGIC were founded in 2005 by Tony Xu, and have made a big impression on the personal electronics scene since then. They may be the underdog, but SoundMAGIC are never afraid to take the fight directly to their more well-known competitors. The flagship E-series receives consistent accolades from critics and consumers alike, with the E10C receiving consecutive years’ recognition by What Hifi? as an outstanding in-ear under a certain price. SoundMAGIC has plenty of momentum moving into the future, so make sure to keep them on your radar!

06/11/2018

Here’s the deal about Black Friday: we’re not content to just offer one day of great deals. This year, we’re gearing up to deliver three weeks of savings centered around our big Black Friday Mega Sale. Starting next week (12/11/2018), we will be highlighting brands to do different sales each day!

We’ll be keeping you up to date with what’s on offer across these dates, so check back here for a daily update starting the 12th. You can also keep up with what’s going on via our mailing list and social media.

Happy hunting!

Focal Clear Open Back Headphone Review

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Focal Clear

The Focal Clear is, as the name would suggest, clear. With excellent tonal balance, and plenty of detail to boot, Focal have made one incredible headphone.

Aesthetics, Build Quality and Accessories:

The Clear sport a grey and silver colour scheme, which makes them stand out against the mainly black headphones around. They look great in person with the perforated pads and mesh look, they are refined and sophisticated.

 

The build quality is superb, they are mainly made out of metal with perforated microfibre pads and a mix of leather and microfibre headband. The yokes are aluminium and they just feel extremely well put together when you have them in your hands. They use a recessed 3.5mm detachable cable which means swapping out cables is nice and easy. Overall the Clear are very well put together and I cannot find any weak spots on them.

 

Accessory wise the Clear comes with a brilliant array of extras. Firstly, they come with a lovely hard case, with heavy duty zip and a leather handle. This case is the perfect size for travel, with room for the headphones and cable.

 

Comfort:

The Clear are a well built, medium weight headphone. This mean that padding is a must, I find the earpads to be deep and plush and they fit excellently around the ear. But my one minor complaint is the headband padding is a little thin, and this creates a hot spot on the top of my head. But every one has a different shaped head so this will only be an issue for a select few people.

 

 

Sound:

Bass: The bass on the Clear is well controlled and only comes out when called for, it is quite impressive how the lows can really morph to the recording. If there is a subtle sub-bass line, you will hear it, if the mix has complex bass lines the Clear will allow you to pick them apart and hear every detail. They are not boosted down low, this means some may find them lacking a little body, but they make up for that by being well balanced and controlled.

 

Midrange: Like the rest of the sound, the midrange is open and detailed, expertly handling anything you throw at them. Here you can easily distinguish between different vocal tracks, guitars have the right amount of crunch and body. These really don’t try and flatter you by altering the sound, they try and allow you to enjoy your music through a clear window instead.

 

Treble: The treble isn’t boosted to give you a false sense of clarity, but it is well aligned with the rest of the sound. It is crystal clear, but never fatiguing, they will show up poor recordings but feed them something well recorded and you’ll be astonished by the level of detail these have.

 

The Clear do not have the widest of soundstages, but where they make up for it is in the separation and layering. Yes, they won’t give you a concert hall like soundstage, but they will accurately place the instruments and let you easily pick apart the recording.

Conclusion:

 

The Clear have become one of my recent favourites, purely because they offer such a clear and precise sound without fatigue. They allow you to hear all the finer detail in your music, yet at the same time they are easy to listen to and enjoy, exactly what I personally enjoy in a headphone.

Introducing: Periodic Audio!

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The Periodic Audio Rundown

The family is getting bigger- we’re expecting a new bundle of joy to our homestead in the coming weeks, and to celebrate, we thought we’d do a brief overview of the impressive in-ears on offer from these chemically-conscious can constructors.

 

What is the deal with Periodic Audio, anyway?

 

 

 

 

 

As the name might imply, Periodic Audio deal in high-end equipment with a twist- they specialize in highlighting the performance of elements on the periodic table as facets of their design technology.  For example, their earphone range features diaphragms hewn from varying materials.

Periodic‘s motto is ‘Portable audio excellence’, which gives some insight into the brand’s style. You won’t find flashy cases or an abundance of accessories- they prefer to focus all their attention on the IEMs and let the sound speak for itself.

 

What will we be offering?

  1. The Mg IEM

These bad boys feature a majority-magnesium content alloy in the diaphragm and Periodic advise they feature a bright, clear top end that would help cut through the noise in loud and busy settings.

 

  1. The Ti IEM

You may have guessed, if you paid attention in chem class- these IEMs feature a 100% titanium foil for the diaphragm. Periodic figure this is their best model for aggressive, fun music- it’s got great responsiveness and strong bass and treble- but perhaps not the most reference-style.

 

  1. The Be IEM

Anyone get the last one? Well done at home if you guessed beryllium- they boast a 100% pure beryllium foil diaphragm to produce a sound with fun, strong bass and an impressive array of sonic detail.

 

Get Nerdy

Want a closer look into the science of  Periodic‘s range? Luckily, they’ve got you covered. Each IEM has a full guide to what makes it tick, complete with measurements, readouts, and charts to show impedance and other factors. If you want to know specifically, down to the molecule what you can expect from each IEM, you ought to have a field day here.

 

So, that’s our glimpse into the future for the day. We’ll be shouting at the top of our lungs about it when these are available, so be sure to keep an ear out. And, as always, feel free to get in touch if you’d like to come visit us for a demo. And bring your chemistry set!

 

BONUS:

Q: Which genre sounds best on Periodic Audio‘s unique IEMs?

A: Precious Metal. 

 

 

 

October Giveaway Competition!

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(02/11/2018) The Big Reveal!

Good afternoon, you beautiful autumn people. We’re thrilled and excited to reveal the winner of our Halloween competition giveaway, who will receive a SoundMAGIC E11C for their efforts.

So, without further ado-

A big, huge congratulations to…

Steve!

We will be getting in touch to send out your shiny new E11C by the end of the day.  Congratulations and many thanks for the laugh!

(15/10/2018) Welcome to autumn!

We wanted to do something to get in the spirit for Halloween, so we thought we’d add a little something special to somebody’s treat bag this season.

Here’s the deal: we want to see how you get into the season. Send us a picture of your Halloween flare (not to be confused with Halloween Flares, unless you’ve done something really cool to your Jet 1s, in which case- absolutely send us that!). This could be a picture of decorations, of some autumn foliage or spooky fog, of you in your costume– anything that captures the spirit!

We’ll decide the winner based entirely on our own subjective, arbitrary criteria and feature the winning photo on our blog (with a runner-up or two possibly included if we can’t keep them to ourselves).

Down to the important stuff- we’ll hook the winner up with a pair of our newest releases- The SoundMAGIC E11C!

You have until midnight on November 1st to get your submissions in- meaning you’ve got all Halloween day to take great pictures- and email your submissions to contest@hifiheadphones.co.uk.

The Rules:

  • Submit as many pictures as you’d like! This isn’t a random raffle, but having a backup can never hurt!
  • You must be subscribed to our mailing list to win- feel free to get in touch if you aren’t sure if you’re subscribed, and we can check for you!
  • Hifiheadphones may possibly use any and all images submitted- this includes on our blog, social media, mailouts, and on hifiheadphones.co.uk. Please let us know at the time of submission if you have any problems or issues with this.
  • Our personal judgment is final- and completely arbitrary. Our internal team will vote on the winners.
  • We will announce the winner via blog post and accompanying email on the 2nd of November, and will contact the winner directly.
  • Your submission must be your own intellectual property– sending in screenshots of Stranger Things or Nightmare on Elm Street is going to get your entry thrown out.
  • Please keep all submissions safe for work. After all, that’s where we’re going to be looking at them.

Mr Speakers Aeon Flow- Review

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Mr Speakers Aeon Flow – The Bee’s Knees

Mr Speakers has made a huge impact on the market since graduating from Fostex fiddling, not least with the Aeon closed-back model recently. However if you’re in the mood to pick a quiet spot and have a need to relax, why not consider the open design of the Aeon Flow?

 

Design and appearance

The most visual difference between the closed-back Aeon and the Flow is the attractive hexagon grill design on the earcups. Perfect for listening to the likes of Queen, and Sting. Moving on from the Bee-grade jokes however, the Aeon Flow keeps all of the charm and advantages of the former model in terms of its lightness and comfort.

 

 

Durability & build quality

The Aeon open-back‘s lightness may give the impression that it is fragile; however it can bend and stretch along with the roughest handling, and there’s no reason to suspect that will ever change. The included carry case may not win any beauty pageants, but is certainly one of the more pragmatic cases and should protect the Aeon for years to come.

Comfort

There should be no worries when it comes to comfort during extended listening sessions; the more forgetful among us may even be wondering where our new headphones are whilst wearing them. The Aeon open-back is light and sits nicely on the head, distributing the load evenly.

Sound characteristics

The tuning can be altered by means of filters which can be added to the earcups, just like the closed back Aeon. These will gradually decrease the treble presence, making a bassier-sounding headphone. For this review, we go ‘au naturel’ and try them in their unmodified state. However even with no filters, the Aeon open back is a warm-sounding headphone. If you find yourself attracted by dog whistles, then maybe the Aeon open will be a little too relaxed for you.

Bass

Sub-bass has a good presence in the mix for an open design. It’s a relaxed, yet powerful quality which describes the sound overall pretty well. Like the Aeon is not really trying – high praise indeed! Mid bass has a punchy, slammy feel to it. Many cheaper cans have a mid bass punch, but here it’s the real deal and much more authoritative. It’s ideal for fans of bass quantity and quality alike.

Mids

Midrange is neither pushed at the listener or recessed. Vocals are rich and velvety and there’s a natural and unforced feel about them. Control is in evidence however, with a nice black background for reverbs to tail off into virtually nothing. Consequently there is a lot of space in good recordings, which complements the well controlled audio and provides some excellent imaging. The midrange quality veers slightly towards the lush and rich, giving music a nice approachable glow.

Treble

Higher frequencies may not be featured prominently but the treble, like the bass and midrange, has a free and easy quality about it. Much like a figure skater’s graceful figures of eight which look easy to do, the hard work going on is cleverly hidden from view. There’s a little bit of sparkle here, and the treble generally has no problematic peaks.

 

 

Soundstage & Separation

The overall width of the presentation is not huge, it keeps vocals and instruments close to the listener. Separation is very good, with some clear midrange harmonics doing well against a silent, distortion-free background.

Music genres good for and why

A few genres were tried, and all were very enjoyable with the Aeon Flow Open. If you are fond of classical, acoustic or similar genres, don’t be put off by the sub bass these headphones can put out, as there will be little sub bass in the recordings. However if sub bass is your thing, the Aeon Flow Open will certainly be a contender for dance, pop and rap. Rock music and jazz benefits from the treatment the midrange gives, so if you like to mix things up, these are some versatile headphones indeed.

Pros

  • Light and comfortable
  • Good build and looks
  • Sensible carry case
  • ‘Effortless’ sound quality
  • Modifiable sound

Cons

  • Soundstage is limited

Summary

The Mr Speakers Aeon Flow Open may be a mouthful, but it also makes rather a nice earful.

Review- The iFi Audio xDSD

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iFi xDSD

 

The xDSD is tiny but packed full of tech; a must have for the audiophile who listens on the go.

 

Aesthetics and Build Quality:

The xDSD is a lovely little thing, with a shiny gunmetal finish and matte black backplate it is neat and tidy. The finish is a bit of a fingerprint magnet though, so be sure to give it a wipe down from time to time. On the back you have the inputs, on the front you have the volume knob/on-off switch, xBass and 3D+ button, and the 3.5mm headphone output.

 

 

Build quality wise it is a solid unit; the mostly metal construction should help it to survive day to day use along with holding up to the occasional knock that is bound to happen. All the sockets are tight and the buttons all feel sturdy. The volume knob is flush with the main body, meaning there won’t be additional stress added to it.

 

 

Features:

The xDSD accepts all sorts of inputs, you have the main USB input for using with a mobile phone (camera connection kit requires for iOS devices). On the back there is also the 3.5mm coaxial/TOSLINK combo S/PDIF input for DAP’s and CD players. Internally you have Bluetooth connection, allowing you to transmit Bluetooth audio from your device to the xDSD, it supports the regular Bluetooth protocols along with AptX, in the future it would be nice to see it support LDAC.

 

On the back you have a micro-USB port that is for charging only, along with a filter switch. This changes the digital filter from Measure to Listen. The differences between the 2 filters modes is subtle, so play around and see which you prefer. To my ears the Measure is a little more neutral, the Listen is a little more forgiving and better for extended listening.

 

 

The 3.5mm socket on the back can be set as a line-out so you can use the xDSD as a DAC for your hifi system or to connect to a different amplifier. Overall for the size of the device, iFi have managed to pack a lot in.

 

The volume knob has a clear centre that changes colour depending on the volume, starting at blue (low) and going up to red (high). Next to this are LED indicators, showing what input is being used and the bitrate, along with showing if the 3D+ and xBass+ settings are in use.

 

 

 

Sound:

So how does the xDSD sound, well first off, I will say that it pairs equally well with IEM’s as it does with most full-size headphones. It will power most headphones, but may not be the best match for low sensitivity headphones, with 500mw@16 Ohms it really can pack a punch for its size.

 

The xDSD has superb audio quality though, as with most iFi products it is clean as a whistle but with a hint of smoothness to it, this prevents the xDSD from sounding too sterile. There is excellent definition to the sound, with great separation and everything is in its right place. The noise floor is low, you will only notice a tiny bit of noise with extremely sensitive IEM’s.

 

 

The xDSD steers clear of sounding too digital, the bass is controlled with only a slight hint of added body. The midrange is clean and insightful handling everything with ease. The highs are detailed and extended but without a hint of glare, overall it is a well balanced and detailed DAC/Amp.

 

What surprised me here is the Bluetooth quality, the sound quality is very consistent, no matter what input is used. The added convenience of going wireless is handy, and knowing that you don’t lose out on a lot of sound quality makes it ever better.

 

 

Conclusion:

iFi have managed to pack a lot into a small device, and it works in perfect harmony. Unfortunately, there is a tiny bit of background noise with extremely sensitive IEM’s. Overall however the xDSD is clean, detailed and easy to listen to. Nothing stands out, and the feature set is excellent for the price. A must have for the audiophile on the go.

Welcome to the HiFi Headphones News and Reviews Blog

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Welcome to our news and update blog for the HiFi Headphones Online Store. Check back here often for the latest news and insights into the world of headphone and earphone technology. Alternatively subscribe to our RSS or Atom feeds to receive our blog entries automatically.

We love to get feedback from visitors and customers, so if you have a moment please feel free to add comments to our blog entries.

Thanks for reading!

The HiFi Headphones Team

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk