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
Oil dampened cables.  That may not be the correct technical term. I've seen them on eBay. 
Okay, that explains it. Thanks

gochurchgo,
Since they are leaking oil, they may be British, not Chinese. (sorry) 
Weeping just a tiny bit. But I’m running these for all interconnects including the phono cable and they sound nice. Clear and extended.

just placed an order for AE Prestige Interconnects so these will be leaving the system. Might sell them, not sure.
Tim if they were British they might work with 12 V + ground… Lucas, Prince of Darkness
Not sure how they do it.....these were one of Furutech's better IC cables and are priced at less than $6/M (if you buy 10M)!  They are branded "Furutech" and although these are apparently a discontinued model and hard to find for sale, they are still listed on the Furutech website and the construction appears to be exactly the same as what is still posted on the Furutech website.  The XSSH 10m price OF $6 is about 25% of the original Furutech list price.  Did XSSH purchase remaining stock?