Prime Day Live: your last chance for deals on five-star headphones, stellar turntables, OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos soundbars and more
Looks like it’s going to be a sprint finish on this year’s deals bonanza
Are rare discount on Apple’s tiny, but great sounding, smart speaker
Apple tech famously doesn’t get big, or even any, discounts often. Which is a shame as, while its speakers and headphones are great, they also tend to come with a premium price tag.
Which is why we’re super pleased to see its five-star HomePod Mini smart speaker get a rare discount over Prime Day.
You can buy the What Hi-Fi? Award-winning HomePod Mini for £84 at the O2 Store (save £15).
Is that the biggest saving ever? No. But as we said discounts on Apple tech are very rare, so if you are in the company’s ecosystem this is a rare opportunity to get its smallest speaker at a discounted price.
If you do, you’ll be treated to one of the best speakers in its class, with the Mini proving capable of delivering a surprisingly room fill sound packed with energy when we tested it.
One of our favourite streaming sticks has had its price slashed
We tend to recommend the Apple TV 4K as the best streaming box from a pure quality perspective.
But if that’s a bit rich for your blood, or you’re looking for a streamer to add smart TV powers to a bedroom/kitchen TV, or just prefer Amazon’s Fire OS to whatever is running your lounge set, then the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a fantastic choice.
This is especially true right now, as you can grab the streamer for just £40 at Amazon (save £30).
For your money you’ll get a competent streaming stick with an included remote that delivers solid picture quality and decent audio for everything but serious music listening.
Looking for a Dolby Atmos soundbar?
If you want a new Dolby Atmos soundbar, then there’s one in particular our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, recommends you look at – and keeping up the trend in this year’s Prime Day live blog, it’s not on a new flagship model.
Instead, if you want the best bang for your buck buying a Dolby Atmos soundbar, he recommends looking at the now retired Sonos Arc, which you can buy at Amazon for £489 – a huge £410 discount on its £899 regular price and the best we’ve seen across every retailer.
Why this one when we found the newer Sonos Arc Ultra offers better audio quality, especially at lower frequencies when we ran them head-to-head? Like our LG C4 OLED TV recommendation, it all comes down to our hallowed performance-per-pound metric.
The Arc isn’t as good as its Ultra sibling, but it is still an excellent performer that will elevate most home cinema setups. It’s also by far the best sounding you’ll find at its current price. So, for most people it’s the best option available right now.
Don't go for gimmicks
Prime Day always brings with it at least 10 terrible deals for every good one we recommend. A good example is the current discount it’s offering on Dyson’s wireless headphones.
Sure, there’s no denying The Dyson OnTrac is interesting and a strong opening effort from the British tech firm – especially considering its focus on vacuums.
But after testing them against the competition, we don’t recommend them to any serious music fan, even with their current discount – they're down from £450 to just £359 at Amazon.
Trust us, we tested them against rivals and if audio quality is your priority there are multiple better sets available with healthy discounts that will serve you better. Here’s a shortlist of the ones we recommend considering.
If you want new headphones or earbuds, Sony has you covered
Sony has made some of the best wireless headphones and best wireless earbuds we’ve tested this year. That’s why you'll find so many of them recommended in our buying guides.
Which is why you may justifiably be after a set during Prime Day. If you are, our deputy editor, Andy Madden, has some good news and advice.
First, pretty much every Sony set we’ve checked has had some form of Prime Day discount. Second, some of the best are on sets we’ve fully reviewed and wholeheartedly recommend.
As a key team member that helped review them, these are the ones Andy recommends most.
If you’re picking between LG OLEDs we have some advice
LG OLED TVs are always a hot item, especially during sales events. And this Prime Day is no different. Over the past week we've seen savings appear on the firm’s ever-popular C-line of TVs in particular.
And while many of you may be tempted to take advantage of the current, and atypically early discount doing the rounds on the newest, five-star, 55-inch LG C5 – which is available at Amazon for £1699 ($1599.99 in the US / AU$2920 in Australia) – our editor would advise caution before pulling the trigger.
This is because there’s a much more impressive discount available on its, still excellent predecessor, the LG C4. Specifically, you can grab the 55-inch LG C4 at Amazon now for a significantly cheaper £859 ($1096.99 in the US / N/A Australia). That’s a massive £1240 saving on its launch price.
Having tested both, while the C5 does offer better peak brightness levels and better colour volumes, especially during low light scenes, its perks don’t justify such a huge gap in price. Which is why we’re recommending most of you go for the LG C4.
Remember it’s not just about Amazon
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – Amazon is not always the best place to find top savings on hi-fi, especially if you’re after something beyond entry level.
That’s why if you regularly read What Hi-Fi? you will know many of the deals we recommend come from specialist retailers including Richer Sounds, Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, Peter Tyson and more.
This remains true on Prime Day. So much so, that our hi-fi and audio editor, Kashfia Kabir, and TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, both penned lists detailing the top savings they’ve found on said specialists – and as expected, many beat what you’ll find on Amazon.
These include:
So make sure to give other stores a check and make sure the deal you’ve spotted on Amazon is actually the best price available before you pull the trigger.
Meet the team looking after this live blog!
Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time, he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cybersecurity policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi?, he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Alastair is in the process of turning his newly converted attic into a full-blown cinema room, so he walks the walk just as much as he talks the talk.
Andy Madden is one of the most seasoned and senior members of the What Hi-Fi? editorial team. Though he’s reviewed pretty much every category we cover in his career, in the past few years, he’s become one of our main headphone expert. Whether it’s a pair of premium wireless headphones from Focal or an affordable but musical set of earbuds, he’ll be on hand here offering his expert advice on which is the best pair to get.
Kash is the veteran professional shiny things chaser who runs our hi-fi and audio section. She first joined What Hi-Fi? 13 years and has spent a good chunk of that time reviewing everything from premium stereo amplifiers and turntables to affordable DACs and speakers. If you’re after some hi-fi this Prime Day, she’s the person you want to speak to.
Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products for over 18 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. Tom is a huge fan of OLED TVs and Dolby Atmos speaker packages, but he also loves budget kit that punches above its price tag and appreciates lifestyle-friendly gear that allows more people to get a great home cinema experience at home.
Lewis Empson is a Senior Staff Writer on What Hi-Fi?. He was previously Gaming and Digital Editor for Cardiff University's Quench Magazine. Lewis graduated in 2021 and worked on a selection of lifestyle magazines and regional newspapers before joining the What Hi-Fi? team. He is an avid gamer and movie-lover, and a champion of the 4K Blu-ray format.
Though he’s the youngest member of our audio team, Harry brings a fresh perspective to our coverage. Though he initially focused on reviewing headphones, he has since branched out and helped us test everything from record players to floorstanding speakers to all-in-one systems. This gives him a fantastic holistic knowledge of the hi-fi market.
Robyn Quick is a Staff Writer for What Hi Fi?. After graduating from Cardiff University with a postgraduate degree in magazine journalism, they have worked for a variety of film and culture publications. In their spare time, Robyn can be found playing board games too competitively, going on cinema trips and learning muay thai.
It’s the final countdown
Prime Day has been a marathon, not a sprint, this year. But all signs suggest Amazon is planning on having its 2025 sales event end with a bang, not a whimper.
Which is why we’d strongly recommend keeping an eye on it and rival specialist retailers' deals sections, as we’re expecting a wave of new deals, or deeper discounts on products that have already had their prices slashed.
As a word of advice, if you’re looking for a new pair of wireless headphones, we’d suggest looking at older models in particular. Some of the best discounts we’ve seen this week have targeted outgoing, but still very capable sets.
These include a massive saving on the older Sony models.
If you want a set of over-ears, the Sony WH-1000XM5 are available at Amazon now for £249 (save £131).
If in-ear’s your game, then there’s a solid discount on the Sony WF-C700N, which you can also nab at Amazon five-star, Sony WF-C700N for £55 – a £45 saving on their launch price.
They may not be the latest models, but we can personally confirm they are both still very capable options that will meet most music fans' needs.
