So would it be better to just pay customs and get iems from China? I’ve heard that the Mangird Tea are really good and might be a worthy upgrade.
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linsoul/hifigo avoid customs charges by claiming the item at a low enough value to avoid taxation, some courier services will still impose some sort of charge depending on where you’re living (ie they have no other option than using that courier, this CAN happen with DHL), but otherwise you should be good. i’m in the u.k and haven’t paid any additional costs to anything from linsoul/hifigo, linsoul customer support is atrocious too but probably on par with random aliexpress sellers so ymmv, less familiar with hifigo customer support
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Customs will check the package regardless of the price it claims.
And there are no tax free limits anymore so I will definitely have to deal with customs
if I’m not wrong, up to 150€ rule is that the vendor will pay EU the vat, buyer will pay the shop the cost (i.e. no import taxation). for items above 150€, taxation is a buyer problem (i.e. you will have to pay customs duties and vat).
That’s over now. Everything especially from China has customs and fees now. Even a 5€ phone case
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Yes but some couriers still avoid. If you check linsoul/hifigo, you’ll see that. Im also in EU.
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This is 100% true for Germany also. As a western customer it took some time to wrap my head around this chinese business practice.
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umh. it seems europe rule are not aligned with what you’re saying
“Customs Duty is not due for goods, provided directly to the buyer when their value does not exceed 150 euros.”
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This explains it well imo.
EDIT: So @juliangst is right I think. However people are probably alreading using loopholes (sites like Hifigo, Linsoul etc)
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With the new VAT reform, duty is only due for goods above 150€ but most IEMS I’m considering cost more than 150€.
If they don’t have a warehouse in EU which most sites like Hifigo and Linsoul don’t, I will most likely end up paying 19% VAT and those 5-10% on top of the price.
And no, it doesn’t matter what price they print on the box. I already got a few IEMs from china and they were inspected by customs control and duty and VAT was charged according to their real price.
Like I’ve said before… Some couriers still avoid, no matter what. Yunexpress (used on aliexpress, hifigo and linsoul) is one of them. They pass customs in another country. For me, they do it in Spain, as an example.
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At this price point I would like to be able to send the IEMs back if I don’t like them and that’s always a hassle and sometimes not even possible with those chinese hifi dealers
Then yes, you’re most likely stuck with Amazon offerings.
I just read a few reviews and the Fiio FD5 seem to be good.
They have more natural timbre than the Mangird Tea or Blessing 2, which is what I’m looking for because I listen to a lot of classical
They have due to being a single DD, but the tuning is pretty bad for classic imo. But others might chime in better because I’ve only owned FD5 and FH3 from Fiio
If you want something for classical, the tanchjim oxygen is more fitting.
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but they are so ugly 
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they don’t need to be 100% perfect for classical music. I do listen to other stuff as well.
I just want a good upgrade over my Legacy 3 and DM6
Well, fd5 does work better than the oxygen for kpop.
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