Outside of going to an audiophile store (which there are none nearby me), it seems many on this sub are often purchasing headphones with the intent to just try them. They’ll give em a good critical listen, and if they dont like em, ship em back. Amazon seems to be popular for this.
But I dont get how this works. I dont trust Amazon’s “free returns” policy as they’ve screwed me numerous times in the past (non headphone related). Furthermore, free returns are often not free at all, and I see tons of fine print about restocking fees, return fees, etc etc. So how are you guys managing to test so many headphones before buying them?
I know headphones.com has a 365d return policy, but at least they’re transparent and tell you upfront that there are restocking fees (as opposed to Amazon which is the exact opposite). So at least you can budget and act accordingly. But again, I ask - how are you guys doing this? Is Amazon really being that good to you guys and I just have the worst luck in the world? Help!
I used to travel to another city to check out some stores. it’s tough though because getting an impression of a headphone or an amp after a short demo isn’t enough sometimes. then after i browsed my country’s audio classifieds and noticed there’s a lot of people in my city and in my neighboring city that sells stuff, and very often it’s the same guys who buys new high end stuff and then sells it a few weeks later for a little bit off if they don’t like it. i connected with these guys and they’re good friends now. we hang out doing non audio related stuff, sometimes demo stuff at each other’s houses if they pick up anything new.
there’s audio people everywhere and yeah it might take a bit of work to make friends but they’re pretty cool people when they’re not keyboard warrior-ing it up on the Internet lol
That last bit is so true. It’s way more fun to actually attend meets and know other people in person. It’s far easier to share and explain listening impressions and I get a better sense of how different people hear things than in reading posts on the Internet. And the most obnoxious keyboard warriors are generally allergic to in-person interactions, so they basically never show up.