[Superbaldguy]

I'm seriously thinking about making the plunge and get a set of ER-4P's. Afterall, I have pretty much every other headphone - 888's, D22SL's, VX100's, KSC-35's, and a pair of cheapie MX400's. All have their respective uses, but I'm really PISSED at all the noise in my little village!

The only real solution is a set of high-end isolator phones, and these look like the ticket. If I import them from Headroom, for the $270 USD, will there be any surprise fees, customs, etc.?

Fellow Canucks, please reply!

 

[kerelybonto]

Yes, supposedly you will get a fairly hefty import tax on stuff from Headroom and most other foreign places.

Have any of you Canadians tried asking these places to mark your order as a gift? This always works for avoiding the import tax in the US (which isn't regularly enforced anyway) if you can get the seller to do it -- and there's really no reason for them not to. ...

kerelybonto

 

[acs236]

They are readily available on Ebay, which would avoid all such fees.

 

[mkyy]

No, buying it on ebay would not save you from the tax and duty. I once bought a PDA from ebay and got $80 on tax + duty. I think marking it as gift can avoid the import tax but not the brokerage fee impose by the shipper.

If buying from Headroom, you should expect a shipping charge of ~USD$30. Did you try look at the etymotic home page??
They listed a couple of ER4 distributor in Canada, one in BC and the other in ON. Let me know how that turned out!! I might consider buying a pair if they priced it reasonably.

 

[Superbaldguy]

I e-mailed both of those distributers. Thanks for the suggestion. No response with a price.

I guess I'm looking at about $500 or so for the ER-4P's in Canada - are they worth THAT kind of money?

This forum is not for anyone who is dirt-poor......

My wallet already feels thinner.....

 

[tipsy mcswagger]

i've been doing alot of buying off ebay lately and canada customs definitely dings you good for purchases, unless you ask the seller to record the item at a much lower price or put "nc" (non-commercial) on the customs slip. recording the item as a gift only works up to $40.00 us and you will still have to pay tax.
i noticed such inconsistencies that i called customs and said "what the crap?!". they told me that the ammount of duty payed depends on where the item was manufactured, but if you buy anything made in the usa or mexico you don't pay duty just tax because of free trade.
i don't know if this will be of any help to you... i need to buy i set of cans from headroom myself, and i'm going to ask them to record the price much lower.

good luck

 

[MirandaX]

Quote:

Originally posted by Superbaldguy I guess I'm looking at about $500 or so for the ER-4P's in Canada - are they worth THAT kind of money?

If you regularly work/live in a place with ambient noise, they're worth that kind of money, no question. (You'll feel your stress level decrease, and you'll be able to concentrate more effectively; they're worth it for the increased productivity alone.)

If you're buying them for the sound, they may or may not be worth it, depending on how satisfied you are with your current headphones, and how much of an audiophile you are. The Etymotics sound darn good, but great sound is hard to quantify in monetary terms.

 

[jlo mein]

curious superbaldguy,

where did you buy your koss 35's?

 

[mkyy]

tipsy, for some reason, headroom shipping cross border is really expensive. If you're not looking something exotic like the EAR HP4, try sound hounds in victoria.

 

[Ken]

i have er4s and love the isolation. there is a great learning curve , its not as easy as just turning on speakers . For some its easy for others not. theres only one way for you to find out .....

 

[Nezer]

I have one *very* big suprise... The exchange rate!

 

[Zanth]

I did the deed...back in February...total...$475 with shipping, and the $79 duty at the border. Due to insurance Headroom was not willing to ship as gift to me....they did do one day delivery for the cost of 3 day or whatever though

they are worth every penny though....All those prices above are in Canadian dollars.

There IS a Canadian dealer on the West coast, dlow, a fellow head-fier bought them there and itw as much cheaper!! Go to ety's homepage, look for dealers...and the info shoudl be there....if I would have known this, I would have bought Canadian.

 

[tipsy mcswagger]

mkyy, thanks for the tip, i'll check out sound hounds. if they don't have what i want i might have to get in touch with you for recommended vancouver stores that i can check out on a day trip.

 

[mkyy]

So what exactly are you looking for?

 

[aos]

Actually look for Sage audio, I believe that was the name of the company. I bought it from them last year on special, it was only about US$220 and I paid no brokerage and very small amount of taxes if any - the guy marked it as gift without me asking for it. I remember lot of people were happy with service. And obviously, so did I.

Duties are (if needed) paid only on things made out of US/Mexico. There is NO duty otherwise. But there is brokerage fee, which comes to pretty much the same. I remember before moving to Canada often thinking how the huge extra charges, duties and customs are a trademark of communist regimes. Not so! I wonder, how come I NEVER hear about duties from US people, no matter where they order stuff from?