[doctorK53]

Thanks for your contribution to this thread btw, 90% of our info comes from you I'm curious, If you buy it as a tourist can you not pay the 10% Tax? and If you do, I assume you pay full VAT when you land back home?

Overseas tourists who do not consume the goods in Japan can purchase them without 10% tax and no need to pay as long as they use the goods outside Japan.

There are several conditions:
1) you should buy it in the shops with a "tax-free" sign
2) the purchased price in a shop in a day must be between 5,000 - 500,000 JPY
3) you should show your passport at the shop counter
4) you must not open the box until you leave Japan.

When you leave japan, you should take the goods to customs. Should you put the goods as checked-in baggage, let the airport staff know the fact at the check-in counter. The customs officer will check the goods (the info about your tax-free purchase is sent electrically to the custom from the shops).

For condition 1), almost all of the large electric/electronics shops have the tax-free signs, including e-earphone (the largest headphones/IEM shop in Akihabara) and fujiya-avic (famous hi-fi audio shop in Nakano) .

See this website for more info.
https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0000238/

 

[ScornDefeat]

Overseas tourists who do not consume the goods in Japan can purchase them without 10% tax and no need to pay as long as they use the goods outside Japan.

There are several conditions:
1) you should buy it in the shops with a "tax-free" sign
2) the purchased price in a shop in a day must be between 5,000 - 500,000 JPY
3) you should show your passport at the shop counter
4) you must not open the box until you leave Japan.

When you leave japan, you should take the goods to customs. Should you put the goods as checked-in baggage, let the airport staff know the fact at the check-in counter. The customs officer will check the goods (the info about your tax-free purchase is sent electrically to the custom from the shops).

For condition 1), almost all of the large electric/electronics shops have the tax-free signs, including e-earphone (the largest headphones/IEM shop in Akihabara) and fujiya-avic (famous hi-fi audio shop in Nakano) .

See this website for more info.
https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0000238/

Its impossible to predict the near-future, but by late-February, will there be any shops in Japan where one will be able to just walk into a shop like e-earphone or fujiya-avic and buy a pair of YH-5000SE? I have a friend going to Japan in 2 weeks and I would love for him to come home with a pair lol.

 

[adrianm]

Its impossible to predict the near-future, but by late-February, will there be any shops in Japan where one will be able to just walk into a shop like e-earphone or fujiya-avic and buy a pair of YH-5000SE? I have a friend going to Japan in 2 weeks and I would love for him to come home with a pair lol.

My friend's going in August. Just keep in mind if you go through the above procedure, chances are when he lands back home he will have to pay VAT, and at least in Europe, it's double than Japan...19-20%.

 

[stacey]

If that’s your plan, you should buy yen when it’s cheap. And you don’t pay tax for good bought overseas, at least in the US

 

[adrianm]

If that’s your plan, you should buy yen when it’s cheap. And you don’t pay tax for good bought overseas, at least in the US

Well in the EU it might be different, but not sure tbh

 

[stacey]

* Another thing to consider is that if you do buy in Japan, you lose your warranty if you’re outside of Japan. This is something worth considering if you do not have ties to Japan.

 

[ScornDefeat]

* Another thing to consider is that if you do buy in Japan, you lose your warranty if you’re outside of Japan. This is something worth considering if you do not have ties to Japan.

That's definitely an issue. I have some friends in Japan, but having them facilitate a warranty service is burdensome.

But the discount is really enticing lol

 

[doctorK53]

ts impossible to predict the near-future, but by late-February, will there be any shops in Japan where one will be able to just walk into a shop like e-earphone or fujiya-avic and buy a pair of YH-5000SE? I have a friend going to Japan in 2 weeks and I would love for him to come home with a pair lol.

All web shops, including e-earphone, fujiya-avic, and yodobashi, say they cannot show when YH-5000SE will be in stock. e-earphone says it is likely that "we would make you waite for a long time." So we cannot expect regular stock in the shops until the end of February. If someone preordered and canceled after the one came to the retailer, it may be available on the shop. (This likely happened in Otai audio. They temporally had a stock and sold soon). But it is not predictable, of 'course.

 

[doctorK53]

<addition 2023/Feb/08>
High basic performance is doubtless
No unique character (like bass of D8000)
Unstimulating treble, tight bass
Tireless thanks to the lightweight
2m stock cable is short

I added up-dated comment of two of the owners.

 

[ddlo]

Overseas tourists who do not consume the goods in Japan can purchase them without 10% tax and no need to pay as long as they use the goods outside Japan.

There are several conditions:
1) you should buy it in the shops with a "tax-free" sign
2) the purchased price in a shop in a day must be between 5,000 - 500,000 JPY
3) you should show your passport at the shop counter
4) you must not open the box until you leave Japan.

When you leave japan, you should take the goods to customs. Should you put the goods as checked-in baggage, let the airport staff know the fact at the check-in counter. The customs officer will check the goods (the info about your tax-free purchase is sent electrically to the custom from the shops).

For condition 1), almost all of the large electric/electronics shops have the tax-free signs, including e-earphone (the largest headphones/IEM shop in Akihabara) and fujiya-avic (famous hi-fi audio shop in Nakano) .

See this website for more info.
https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0000238/

Though not related to YH-5000SE anyway as the price is less then 500k yen, I think the 500,000yen limit is for consumable products (e.g. foods, cosmetics, etc.) only. I've purchased watches in japan over 500,000yen (which is what they called a general goods e.g. watches, toys, headphones, etc.) and enjoyed tax free.

and just my personal and most of my friends frequently travelled to japan's experiences, the customs seldom check or ask you to show the tax-free purchases to them, even though the rule clearly said they could. I myself put most of the tax-free purchases in checked-in baggage. a year or so ago, visitors need to tear down the tax-free purchase receipts stapled to their passport and throw into a box in the customs before leaving. now everything is done online so there's no receipt attached to passport and there's no formal checking in customs when you depart (there's a counter but you just walk pass unless stop to be checked).

 

[ddlo]

A second-hand YH-5000SE appeared in Fujiya-avic webshop and sold within a few hours. The price was 419,800 JPY (＝aprrox. 3200USD) (20% discount from MSRP).
This one was the first of BtoC used item.

https://www.fujiya-avic.co.jp/shop/g/g240001166847/

i was there 3/2. sadly missed the chance to buy this.

 

[CoLdAsSauLt]

Althought I love Yamaha, I totally agree that all HPs companies should provide the FR of headphones, at least the flagship ones. But sadly, most of the brands don't do it.

Isn't one of the problems that our ears are more sensitive to some frequencies than others, so (unlike speakers if I'm correct) a frequency response graph of headphones, with the drivers so close to your eardrums, doesn't look flat at all to sound flat? (Which introduces subjectivity already... everybody hears differently; when do headphones sound flat)

Therefore, most FR graphs are compensated. However, I'm unaware of an industry standard compensation curve, so unless all manufacturers use the same compensation method, their graphs are not comparable anyway?

I even thought that compensation curves are actually volume dependant, so results and perception will also vary upon the listening volume of each individual.

This is one of the reasons that some bigger manufacturers decided against showing a FR graph. Audeze offered to ask about your specific headphone's graph (LCD-4 e.g.) and then sent it with the necessary disclaimers, probably also counting on the fact that somebody specifically asking this would be more capable of interpreting the data anyways.

That might not be the best analogy tbh. What's the problem of providing a frequency response? Of courser there's more things to a sound of HP that the FR. But having that would help the potential buyers to get an idea of the tonality.

Another good reason for manufacturers to not include a FR graph indeed: there is so much more to the sound: driver speed, impulse and transient response, distortion, ...

perhaps prefer but imho nothing has bettered them

I read into this as preference = subjective and bettering = objective.

However, there are so many aspects and properties that are always balanced against each other. A huge soundstage might well imply a less natural tone with sharp and overly present treble (HD800(S)?),... It's often a trade-off.

And even then, a certain property can very well be a choice of equal technical quality on a continuum: for one the bass is not enough and too dry, for another the bass is not tight enough...

So, stating that something is better is merely a subjective thing as well: you'll qualify the headphones as the best if they score the highest marks on the properties that you value the most.

 

[Max Choiral]

Another good reason for manufacturers to not include a FR graph indeed: there is so much more to the sound: driver speed, impulse and transient response, distortion, ...

It's not.
If you don't know how to read graphs - don't read it

 

[doctorK53]

I know that FR chart tells a lot, though not all. Different FR gives different sound and the difference is somehow predictable if the other conditions are common.

However, an example of remaing factor is fit. Headphones with tight fit gives richer bass than loose fit, while actual fit depends on the shape of one's head. To solve this issue I need a dummy head of my own for the measurement of FR.

Another problem particularly for me is prejudice. I collect and analyse various statistical data in my work. I love quantitative and objective information so much while listening music is qualitative and subjective. So if I see such a chart before listening, I cannot avoid that my impression is affected by the prior information. That's why I do not demand the producers to disclose technical data.

btw, did anyone ask Yamaha directly to disclose the chart? I don't think they watch this thread because Japanese people tend to stay inside japanese-language community. If they do not know what the user community is waiting for, someone let them know that. If you write a letter to them, I 'm happy to translate and send it to the company's customer desk. When you pray, move your feet.

 

[Zhanming057]

So these showed up earlier today First pair in North America?

I'm between desktop systems so I'm using the WM1Z M2 at this moment - they sound quite good, even on a relatively underpowered DAP. Very fast, resolving, and the staging is up there with other flagships. I wouldn't say they compare favorably in speed to the Focal Utopia but imaging is cleaner and I think they scale down at least as well, if not better.