[swiftus]

Where are some decent places to buy headphones?

I want to buy a decent pair (around £100-£150), and wanted to definately test some out before taking the plunge. Any place which stocks Grado, AKG, Beyer, etc.

Thanks

 

[subfocus]

You could try a few of the hifi/music shops along Tottenham ct. road/Wardour Street area. Quite a few of them stock a fairly decent range of headphones (often not on show...) in that particular price range . Just make sure you get to hear 'em out of some decent gear though..if they're not too busy ,they should oblige.

 

[anadin]

Here are two stores that I use to purchase my headphones.

Both of these stores have headphones on display that you can try before you buy.

My advice would be to take your rig i.e your Mp3 player & amp with you, that way you can get a real feel for the headphones you are audictioning.

First store is Turnkey which is situated in londons charing cross road, heres the link http://www.turnkey.co.uk/web/searchA...ing=headphones

Second store is Ask Direct which is in london Tottenham Court Road, heres the link http://www.askdirect.co.uk/uview?cal...earch&l=20&f=0

They will honour there web prices if you go in store and ask them.

I hope this helps you

 

[evilking]

Digital Village 24/7 are the best for AKG, Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic.

Really good prices, sometimes cheaper than the cheapest online price.

They have stores all over London, the one in High Barnet is pretty good.

http://www.dv247.com

EDIT: I've just looked through their range of headphones on the website and things have definately changed recently! There are many, many headphones missing, maybe half of what was there before. I suggest calling ahead.

 

[dunkster]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but has anyone got any other suggestions for websites to order from that post to the uk?

 

[milkpowder]

All the Head-Fi sponsors?

 

[dunkster]

All the head-fi sponsors are abroad, leaving us potentially open to some hefty import duty. If there were any good sites that were in the UK this would be preferred. However if any of you in the UK have indeed ordered from any of the overseas sites, I would be interested in your experiences.

Cheers.

 

[anadin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunkster /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry to hijack the thread, but has anyone got any other suggestions for websites to order from that post to the uk?

Audiocubes charge the same price regardless of where you live.

http://www.audiocubes.com/?gclid=CKb...FRoeEgodwjZ6Yw

 

[dunkster]

Indeed they do, but as I mentioned, I would prefer to order from the UK to avoid Import Duty and VAT

 

[Johnny Blue]

Yes, it'd be good to know what are people's experiences of buying from the US/Japan: did you get stung for duty/VAT? I got a Stax extension cable from Japan for about £60, UK price £95, but that was a small box and wouldn't have looked pricey to any HM Customs staff.
Like dunkster, I'm nervous of trying to get anthing more expensive (I'd love a Stax Omega system for the Japanese price: about half of the UK price!).

 

[dunkster]

After a little research it seems import duty could be around 3-9% depending on the type of goods, and we then get 17.5% VAT slapped on top as normal. This could pretty much kill any money saved from buying abroad.

 

[MarkyMark]

Got some ALO-cabled K701's from US recently and had to pay around £65 in fees to HM Customs. I read somewhere a recent rule change means that marking something as a "gift" no longer make it exempt (need to double check). It seems the only avoidance measures are to underdeclare the true value or hope that the parcel slips through the net.

 

[StevieDvd]

You can buy from Europe without worrying about tax & customs duties. For example thommann.de whihc worked out best price for a set of AKG701 for me.

Meieir Audio, also in germany, and a Head-fi sponsor too sell headphones.

 

[milkpowder]

MarkyMark, marking the item as gift definitely doesn't make it exempt from import duty + duty.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...HMCE_CL_000014

The exact amount to be charged can't really be worked out. It's really up to the Royal Mail customs guy to decide what import duty rate to apply to you parcel. Then charge VAT for [package value + import duty]. Then whack on an administration charge because they (Royal Mail) paid the import duties on behalf of you

For EMS, the import duty is worked out by taking a percentage of [package value + postage]. For normal mail, it's a percentage of the package value only.

 

[dunkster]

Its illegal to under state the value or falsely mark it as a gift anyway, although several retailers do.

Thanks for the EU suggestions, although Meier Audio have stopped selling headphones now.