And now you know where the term Chinese Fire Drill came fromā¦
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So Cainao shipping essentially (from my understanding) isnāt an actual carrier but a service that sources the best carriers out of hundreds to make worldwide shipping āeasyā. Possibly thatās why we see āShipment Cancelledā as it might be switching carriers for the shipment(s)ā¦ either that or its just poor wording on the actual status from the carrier side.
I wouldnāt start opening disputes 10 days after purchaseā¦ just try to be patient and as @TheGreatOilPainter said, trust the process. These 2 shops have been open for quite some time and sell multiple products so I really really doubt it is some sort of obscure scam just to lead up to these headphones.
The people we message are just workers in China and most do not know English well (if at all) and use translations to get messages across so thatās probably why the messages read similar from different shops. I kind of wonder how our messages translate for them to be honestā¦ haha I bet some of the messages they get come out the other end reading as something a lot different than we meant it to.
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I ordered through electricxiamo store on November 30 and paid the additional cost for DHL. I messaged them after 5 days and asked when it might ship? They replied ātomorrowā, which of course I didnāt believe.
After 10 days the order showed as shipped via standard shipping. I messaged them and pointed out that I had paid the additional for DHL and asked them to provide a DHL tracking number, even though again - I didnāt believe it had actually shipped.
Their reply was that if I wanted DHL then I would have to pay more. I again replied that I had already paid for faster freight. Their reply to that was āI am very sorry for the shipping fee, because of outbreak, the additional extra payment is not enoughā
I have now advised them to ship it via standard shipping and refund my DHL premium or cancel the order completely. Letās see what happens next 
I am definitely getting scammed - avoid this mob like the plague.
email hifiman with this shit and see if theyāll sell directly to you. thatās ridiculous. they need to just give it to us retailers so at least someone trustworthy can handle shipping.
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Iād prefer Australian retailers 
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yeah iām thinking like amazon though lol so everyone gets it.
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I purchased from electricxiami store on aliexpress, took around 2.5 weeks to arrive to me in Australia (aliexpress standard shipping).
Iāve previously owned the ananda as well as the rev1 arya, Iād say this slots in between the two, closer to the ananda than the arya. It lacks the dynamics and soundstage of the arya, itās also more forced sounding, the arya was detailed in a effortless way to me.
Compared to the ananda, the biggest difference was the separation, the edition xs presented each instrument startling coherently, almost as good as the arya. Detail and speed also are a slight step up from the ananda from memory. The one thing the ananda does better is tuning, the edition xs is slightly peakier in the treble, while not a big issue, it is a clearly noticeable difference when compared to the ananda.
Overall, given the price, a no brainer really.
One gripe is the magnets they chose for the edition XS, they are weak compared to even the ananda, with almost no pull when metal objects are near, I would happily pay extra for a version with more powerful magnets.
update: definitely a hot in the treble, for comparison Iāve got a elex on hand and it noticeably smoother in the treble, the edition XS would benefit from eq, still waiting for measurements unfortunately.
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whatās your source chain? the xs is quite a bit harder to drive than anandas and are right up there with aryas. the stealth magnets iāve noticed are a bit deceiving with how much power they take to drive well, despite advertised specs. they definitely scale leaps better than the ananda and the treble seems a lot more subdued and less peaky than the anandas to me.
Iām running it off of a grace sdac balanced and a smsl sp200.
The ananda I had was the newest revision, with the thicker foam, probably lowered treble levels ever so slightly.
oh the stealth? yeah, i havenāt heard the stealth yet and i would assume it would outperform the XS seeing as itās just the step up in the stealth price lineup but i actually like these more than the arya v2 timbre wise and bass wise and they seem pretty close on dynamics and resolution to me.
To have payed an extra for the shipping really sucks. It seems it is not worth with Aliexpress. When my package was not moving, I complained to the seller (electricxiaomi, like you) and he mentioned that due to the outbreak the package had a 5 days delay. Since my package started moving it is progressing everyday and now I have a delivery estimate for next Wednesday.
I donāt know whether it is worth cancelling for you, I have no experience but I feel it would take quite a while before getting back your money. Also, hifigo has them out of stock again; and it seems they will increase in price after Dec 15.
Ordered from electricxiamo the other day. Never ordered from Ali before, but to expect prompt, efficient communication and shipping from a place like AliExpress is naive IMO- regardless of how much money you plop down. Iām just going to put it out of my mind, not worry about tracking, and if they show up by the end of the year Iāll be happy. Just pay with Paypal- then thereās no real risk. If I get burned, if I donāt get my money back from them Iāll get it from Paypal, try another store, and rinse and repeat. Iām not in such a rush where itās not worth saving the approximate $100USD or around $130CAD to me to wait a little longer. If these are the killers in the <$1000 arena everyone on here say they are, they should be worth waiting 3 months for if need be
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Sounds like some stress over all these Ali orders. Iāve ordered tons of stuff from there, and any time the order doesnāt arrive by the deadline Ali has refunded me fully. So if youāre order doesnāt show up youāll get refunded. Both times it happened the items still arrived later after the refund.
One of those time the seller did ask me to pay for the item once they realized the item arrived, but I decided not to pay them because I paid extra for faster shipping and they didnāt send it with fast shipping. So I figured its their own fault for sending it the slow way. I ended up getting a free Blon BL-03. The other time was just a small $5 item and the seller never reached out.
Although I do worry about receiving an order that is wrong or defective, but thankfully that hasnāt happened. I always video record myself opening the shipping package and the box and immediately testing the item. I feel like ALI will only refund with proof.
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This is pure scam.
So sorry, but this statement not applicable anymore.
I order a lot from aliexpress, my customer profile there is top level(Diamond Member) it means i order from there a lot, and in 99% case everything is just fine: order ships in 72 hours after the payment, deliver in normal up to 30 days in case of standart shipping, i ordered DHL(up to 7 days delivery), Fedex, so many options and in 99% everything is ok. But as usual there some scammers which behave like this two(or more from one person) shops. I recieved just a little bit more than 100 orders from Aliexpress for last five years and only 3 of them was problematic, this Hifimans is 3rd. I order from Ali because this platform is widely available for shopping and free of charge delivery to my country. Amazon services not available, ebay works with limited functionality and etc.
So the platform itself is ok from my point of view, but there is unfair people, people which scam us. I am totally not torable to such behavior so i will open the dispute and get my money back, as soon as possible.
My order still have no updates from the date of purchase, i donāt even want this headphones anymore, for me owning begins with the wish, then making decision, purchasing experience, anticipation of the parcel, unboxing, evaluation, and just listening. Now this pleasent flow is broken, with current state of things i just donāt want themā¦
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Anyone tried the XS with tubes?
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I think only hybrid need apply. Should harmonize extremely well, as much of the affordable HFM planar range does.
Well that does suck. No excuse. Not for a ~$500 order. Def not.
First off though, I think the sellers may be going greedy - I believe the XS may be out of stock in China too at the moment, AE sellers can prob can get away with a āhiddenā, āundisclosedā pre-order sale rather than a confirmed sale - I believe if itās multiple sellers delaying shipments, this is probably whatās going on.
I too am an avid AliExpresser, cuz of almost the same reasons, I have 300+ orders form them, keep bouncing between diamond and platinum, so I figure sellers should respect that at least.
I guess sometimes you can expect anything, even from known sellers. This one deal I had from Shenzhen Audio just for an example, 16th March - see how I had to wait for almost a month (well I should highlight I was ok with late shipping I mean I was patience and gave them all the time they needed). I donāt know what went wrong with it, but then I said I would just cancel now on coming Monday if they didnāt send it. I guess they took it seriously and did the right thing. I still respected their āgeneral reputationā you see, I told them categorically that I choose to trust them. I mean - itās Shenzhen Audio. Finally got it 28th April.
So it is probably expected?
Anyhow, nothing really went wrong for me in all those orders - some petty $5 or less two orders didnāt show up but I donāt bother then, could be issue with my local country post office too, theyāre not really the most efficient or honest folks so.
Keep in mind one thing always - besides the more expensive shipping (FedEx, DHL etc), I always try to go for Singapore or HK Post if possible, then maybe China Post. 4PX works sometimes, sometimes not. Any other smaller posts are just too, too late, and chances of failure too.
You could cancel - or just give them a final deadline. If the seller is playing around, then I guess yeah for a refund. Otherwise, I wonder if thereās no real ill-will and theyāre just trying to grab enough units to satisfy placed orders. Either way, this funny stuff is to be expected from AE.
The final decision is of course up to you. I do at least trust in AE enough that I know if I will go for a refund, if it is my last resort, it will come through.
I wonder if youād be able to place a replacement order to this one - I mean chances are it may also be delayed - maybe ur funds are going to be tied here either way. Give them a final warning though - make them understand itās serious business now, or you go dispute - maybe it will shake em to do what theyāre supposed to.
I hope you get your pair soon, one way or the other. Guess the universe is just asking for a bit more patience from you in this particular instance.
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Just pulled the trigger on Ali for around 440 USD using Paypal, [Electricxiaomi Store]. I will update how it goes later.
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XS on xDuoo mt-602 with Sylvania JHS 6AK5 tubes is sublime!
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