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Chinese fake cables How fake, how good?

I have noted a number of warnings about cheap Chinese fake cables on this site but curiosity led me to the Aliexpress site where I found a number of presumably fake big name cables from predominantly Cardas, Nordost and Siltech at about 15% of the USA or Australian price. I found Cardas Clear Light interconnects at about US$100 and decided what the heck let's give them a try at that price. Before buying I asked the seller the daft question as to whether they were genuine and got the reply that they were an OEM and constructed the interconnects from genuine Cardas cables and connectors. They arrived in a plastic bag rather than the Cardas box , not a great start but the cables looked real, and when connected, much to my surprise, they sounded really good. After 100hours or so burn in they sounded great and better than the Nordost Quatre Fils I had been using. I then took them to an Australian hi end dealer who sold real Cardas and asked rather ingenuously whether my cables were the real deal. The dealer would not commit but agreed to compare them to the real thing on a set up costing at a guess around A$100,00. Neither I nor the sales person could tell any difference so he then tried them against the Cardas Clear. Then there was some difference, not extreme but subtle, and certainly IMO not worth the price difference even if you bought the genuine Cardas Clear Light. So are these cables really fake and even if they are given my experience they are well worth a try. Maybe I'll try Nordost Odin or Siltech 770i next.
128x128mazian
scroydon's avatar
scroydon
25 posts
 
Just another thought for those trying to buy the real item but wanting to save some money.

Do a search like the following to see whether an item is legit or not:

krell cryo-196 power cable -ebay -aliexpress

In this example, I found almost no one selling the item once ebay and Aliexpress are left out of the search. This would suggest that Krell Cryo 196 power cable are probably fakes or knockoffs since there is little to no seemingly legitimate online sales.

If an item is too discounted it is likely junk.
mboldda1's avatar
mboldda1
575 posts
 
is there a list somewhere that has all the name brand cables that are being copied out of china?
scroydon's avatar
scroydon
25 posts
 
Since many legitimate audio components are made in China how does one know what is legit and what is a copy? Some manufacturers make a legitimate item for a company but the manufacturer will sell seconds or even extra production runs out the back door.

So what is real and how do you buy only quality legitimate audio components from China or even Amazon and other legitimate storefronts who have been caught selling bogus components?

While you may wonder if a deeply discounted item is a fake or is a second or is even from excess production or you may have determined that you are not going to be a victim of exceessive or greedy profit margins how do you know how to proceed?

Every overseas product in demand has potential charlatans. We gave up legit quality made products when we sought after cheap or lesser quality overseas. That is the cost to lost manufacturing businesses in the State. While there are good producers outside of the US there are also scumbags.

BTW. Some here and those at other forums believe there are also scumbags designing bogus claims and products here in the States or the UK or elsewhere and thus, is a "fake" really a fake if the science behind the item is bogus?

Who is to say a knockoff is of lesser quality than a legitimate component, especially if the "legitimate" component is audio voodoo?

The final arbitrator of anything audio are your own ears.
audiodwebe's avatar
audiodwebe
244 posts
 
I read the op and decided to give some Odins cables a try (one spade and the other a biwire bananas) since I've been looking for some cables, anyway.

How will they compare to the originals?  No clue; will never know as those things crazy expensive.  I'll compare them, maybe, to my A+ Silver Ovals.  Maybe not.  If the Chinese cables sound good in my system, and I end up liking them, who cares really?




avhifidelity
45 posts
 
I have genuine AQ HDMI Carbon and AQ HDMI Mocha (similar to Coffee). I purchased an AQ HDMI Vodka from China to compare to these two cables. Video aside cause it is very difficult to distinguish differences and all three to me look very similar, the Vodka sounded more dynamic and had more discernible impact in the lower frequencies than the Carbon and was very close to the Mocha with DBS pack, which had slight edge in dynamics. This is what I would expect if Vodka was genuine based on AQ price points on these cables.  Physically, the cable itself looks genuine, but the HDMI connectors appear to be either poorly assembled outside of AQ factory or discarded by AQ quality control and somehow found its way on the open market.  The packaging at first may appear genuine, but the overall colors seem slightly muted when compared to several AQ boxes I have and missing #6 bullet point in English on the back of the box.  
Overall, I would say the sound quality of this Vodka cable is surprising for not being a “genuine” AQ approved product.
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