I get aggravated whenever I see someone comment or post about buying lots of headphones at once with the sole purpose of keeping one and returning the others. Seems wasteful on many fronts.

I’m in Europe 🥵

Headphones.com seems awesome yeah

We have Thomann over here which does great service but they have a (relatively) small selection of headphones.

Hifigo sells new stuff, though you do not have the same protections Amazon offers

Yes my 7Hz Timeless came properly wrapped in plastic from AliExpress/China.

There's other options now though, especially cheaper or better value than the Timeless.

The current well-reviewed planar IEMs are using 14.2mm/14.8mm/14.6mm/14.x/etc.mm planar drivers.

So, the 7Hz Timeless (there's AE version with changed stuff), Shuoer S12 (there's Pro, Z12, etc. versions), Tin HiFi P1 Max, Raptgo Hook-X (there's the HBB version), 7Hz Salnotes x crinacle Dioko, TANGZU Zetian Wu (there's the new HeyDay Edition which is actually quite different), and if the price is lowered a bit, Dunu Talos. The new Moondrop Stellaris is too bright/etc. for a lot of people.

There's also the KZ PR1 Pro with KZ's own 13.2mm planar driver. This actually launched for $40 (the promo was like a whole week or so) instead of its current $80 price but ya KZ might not do that anymore.

And the Kinera/Celest SPD planars like Gumiho and Pandamon, though these are not considered as planars by some, still reviewed nicely though and for now the ones from Kinera/Celest are around that ~$50, which is good but there are better options at that price, so only get it for the novelty/etc.

Some people have problems right now with Linsoul due to the ThieAudio Prestige quality control issues controversy with one of their customers. Check the ThieAudio thread on Head-Fi for more info on the Linsoul customer service issue: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/thieaudio-signature-series-tribrid-iems.936212/page-274

Though as a regular customer of Linsoul, AliExpress, and other Chinese websites, basically even if it's $1000+ assume it's final sale, lol, because return shipping is just too much and they often get lost in Mainland China customs (because they'll ask you to underdeclare it too, etc.).

For the Linsoul website, they actually pack it well and should come shrink-wrapped or whatever with plastic. Though I've heard some stories and experienced some weird things...

Anyway, this is not me shilling/making excuses/etc. for Linsoul, but they probably have an upcoming Chinese New Year gift card promo again. Where you'll probably like say pay $25 and then you get a $50 gift card, like no other tricks/etc. to it, just literally free $25 if you can reserve some time for the event.

These days they're doing a $1 charge to be able to buy the gift cards, but they've allowed better time zones and so on and so if you click the page for the event time, you get free gift card, you don't have to play games or like promote them on social media, just free money, lol. So it's like a pre-order for a pre-order, lol.

Here's more info about Linsoul gift cards and such: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/zbw1sm/salnotes_zero_sound_advice_in_comparison_with/iytnl4j/

For Linsoul, they actually own/subsidize/market/etc. a lot of IEM brands and so on. So they have a lot of direct stock of the items, like that's why you often see Linsoul being thanked in some Youtube/Head-Fi/etc. reviews for supplying the reviewer/influencer/etc.

So they shouldn't be short on legit new, untouched, boxes/units of the IEM.

For buying from China/AliExpress/etc. there's really no guarantee but ya they're almost always with the plastic wrapping or seal, so don't worry too much about it.

The problem here is yup, Amazon people that like to return stuff over and over. I've seen people here and elsewhere constantly brag about buying like 5-10+ headphones/IEMs all at once for like a battle royale demo event, lmao wtf smh.

Like for me I'm broke af too and have to save a lot of money and time to afford audio stuff. And so it's tempting to also abuse the amazing Amazon return policy (especially during the holidays as starting in October you can usually return stuff again by January 31 of next year, lmao, that's legit 3 or 4 months of trial period).

But ya my principles and experience with also receiving used/broken/etc. products from Amazon has me not doing that return thing. Like it's a really sad feeling because I have to waste time going to the post office to return the item that I really wanted. Sometimes if it's like a limited edition or limited price drop, then yup when you get a wrong/used/etc. item they can only refund you instead of give you what you bought in the first place.

Anyway, don't worry too much about it since it happens to a lot of Amazon/etc. customers.

Like search up the ridiculous situation with microSD cards on Amazon. They mix the third party storefronts and official Amazon stock all the time. It's so sad and so it's better to buy things like microSD cards from Best Buy or a physical store/retailer. As otherwise you'd get fake microSD cards and all that. Smh.

Linsoul, ShenzhenAudio, etc. also have official storefronts on AliExpress btw. For Linsoul, they're called DD Audio Store there.

If you want more choices/options, look into AliExpress/Linsoul/HiFiGo/etc. and there's often no extra fees after your initial payment/order. So it's usually free international shipping, well some of them will ask you to pay $5-10+ for cheap trackable shipping these days.

Basically expect the usually free AliExpress Standard Shipping to arrive after 1-3 weeks if you live in a major city or near an international airport. It might be different for your region/country, so check your fellow customers' experiences on AliExpress/Head-Fi/etc.

Linsoul/HiFiGo/etc. are often the same as AliExpress for shipping time, though sometimes they will be delayed or actually even faster too.

Here's a bit more about ordering from AliExpress/Chinese companies in general: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/zav570/is_hifigo_a_scam/iynrt65/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/xky24f/americans_and_europeans_ordering_high_end_iems/ipgtsuk/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/uwk248/should_i_order_shuoer_s12s_from_conceptkart_or/i9t7zo0/

Here's a bit more info on AliExpress shipping times: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/uw4uq1/earbud_advice/i9q7fql/

Use parcelsapp.com and 17track.net to check your package progress. Usually it'll be a week before it actually leaves China by the airport and then the rest of the time is just waiting for your country's customs and the national/local mail delivery service.

Had a good experience with Linsoul, but only ordered my Truthear Hexa's there so far, that's all.

What’s crazy is that it happened twice in a row to me now lol. The Letshoure S12 last week and now the Timeless.

Maybe I’ll try contacting Amazon customer service and explaining this to them, then hope that the new one they send me is new.

…I mean they can’t ALL be used items, right? lol

Yeah I definitely expected that to be the case. I’ll try to get them replaced.

Thanks.

Whatever store you buy from check their return policy. Many will say all sales final. I guess they are frustrated by people buying just to try them out.