Chinese fake cables How fake, how good?

clearthink and skycap are dead on!  This is not a debate over how good a fake really is, the issue is the act and its damage to commerce of the legitimate firm.  Fake pharmaceuticals may be formulated as well as the genuine article, however the pharmaceutical firm saddled with 2 billion dollars in total costs for R/D plus drug trials and FDA approval will be harmed.

STOP!!  I'm not supporting the pharmaceuticals industry, only using them as an example of deep pockets investment corrupted by IP theft.

Stories abound of audio industry players setting up manufacturing in China, receiving a quality product for the money and then discovering renamed identical product in other markets.  When approached, the Chinese manufacturers are dumbfounded there exists a problem as the contractual agreement is in their minds fully met.  Of course all of the engineering and intellectual property has been stolen in the process. 

Years ago Top Gear tested Chinese car models.  One was eerily similar to the BMW X5.  BMW had sued for design infringement and lost in Chinese courts.  Imagine that!?

STOP!!  Before some wander off waving a banner marked "China-phobic", I'm merely addressing a current prevalent offender, with full understanding there are plenty of others around the world to include U.S. firms.  Check the court dockets.  

I once purchased on a lark in Thailand a copy of Microsoft Office for $6 (180 Baht).  It was a souvenir and I never loaded it. I was afraid to.   I just wanted to see if it were possible to purchase on the black market.

For those who still support finding that special deal no matter what, I hope your house wiring is not mis-marked as 14-guage, the contractor having secured a smoking deal to cut costs, only to find in the post-fire forensics it to be 20-guage overwhelmed by a toaster oven.

If you really want to see something disturbing, search for Dartzeel on Aliexpress.

Many times China is fake equipments so best is to buy from Korea also WADIA best of all audio equipments Too.

That's ironic. I was pouring over Aliexpress around the same time looking at these cables from various dealers. I decided to hold off and try something else for now, however I think there are a couple different scenarios that present themselves with these cables. Scenario 1 is the hope that these are made with the same cable material as the real deal product and that the Chinese manufacturer sold off extra product to local dealers either under the table or with slight name variances. Since final assembly on some products may be done back in the US, these Chinese products may be very close to the actual product. That's the dream scenario for buying these products, right? The other equally likely scenario (Scenario 2) is that the item has a fancy, similar appearance to the real deal, but is completely fake on the inside. Therefore a total bogus product and not worth even the time to consider. However, it's the lure of scenario 1 that makes these products so tempting and at the relatively low cost may be worth trying -- which leads me to think the makers and dealers of these products are aware of this minimal financial risk to out of market consumers (Americans, Europeans, etc.) so they use that to their advantage and produce complete fakes and price them to point where they "might just be the real deal" which takes me back to Scenario 2. This is why I decided to hold off.

However, I think it would be great if someone with some deeper pockets and more free time than myself wanted to start a Youtube channel simply for comparing Chi-Fi products and went as far as to have them disassembled for quality and material comparison. I think some of these products may be legit performers, while some may look the part on the outside but are constructed of foil chewing gum wrapper and coat hanger wire on the inside. Just don't be surprised if you get some calls from some legal departments of some top tier cable manufacturers if you take on that challenge.

You can not necessarily determine if the cables are real or fake by looking at them. You cannot tell if the cables have been cryo’d, which most high end cables are. You can’t tell if the copper is continuous cast copper or the purity or country of origin. You can’t tell how the welds were made on the connectors. You can’t tell if the cables have been controlled for directionality. As to how good the fakes are, they might be better than Brand X but they won’t be as good as the real thing. No way, Jose!