Counterfeit Chinese Cables

@rolox 

I don’t believe anyone has a problem with someone trying to sell a product, especially a high value product that in your estimation also performs at a high level. That’s cool.

I can see why some have a problem that the person/organization doing so doesn’t have to be shady and use the name of another company who has worked hard, invested and built their brand. Its a very low character thing to do to sell your product, riding the coat tails of someone else’s work. In parts of the world, this practice is common place, which is unfortunate.

The way you describe it, its no big deal. I happen to agree with you that pride of ownership is a personal thing. My challenge with the whole exercise is they are using someone else’s name to profit from. They didnt have to do that. I know you must have a line where this practice is horrible right? @juanmanuelfangioii is rightly bothered by this practice because fake aviation parts put people’s lives at risk. Fake baby formula kills children. Fake pharma can as well. By purchasing “insignificant” fake items you see no harm but the practice emboldens “fakers” to follow the money and begin counterfeiting those things that can endanger lives. I get it, people are just trying to make a buck and those purchasing are just trying to save a buck. The slippery slope is a result of those that partake in either side of a transaction like this.

I have no problem with knock-offs. It’s done all the time, even referencing the real thing. Walmart advertises its own brand of small coated aspirin, looking exactly like a Bayer, as "Compare to Bayer." Some of our fellow ’philes don’t care for knock-offs and seem to take personal offense. I’m happy with my Chinese sourced speaker cable that looks exactly like a Kimber 12TC. One industry insider has suggested it is the same and from the same factory as Kimber’s. It costs one tenth as much. With that in mind I do take issue with the Chinese interconnect being marked as "Nordost Odin 2." It is an excellent cable. I can’t say I know what the legalities are. Google, an American company, permits them to advertise this way and is happy to take their money. American capitalism at its . . best. I am confident that no one will think they are getting the "real" Nordost Odin 2 for the price being asked. While the cable and terminations look fine enough (though the XLR connectors are very light in weight), the wooden rings that carry the false labeling seem crudely made compared to pictures of the real ones. So it’s a poor counterfeit. The use of it puts no one in any jeopardy and I do check the cables for conductivity and shorts before using. Nevertheless, as to my personal point of view I hold no brief for Nordost. I can buy a very nice car for what they charge for a 1 meter pair of their Odin 2 interconnects. For the cable business generally, "ripoff" comes pretty close to describing their exploitation of the audiophile buyer IMO. And they’ve been doing it for a very long time.

@rolox remember that when a plane crashes and kills people because an unscrupulous aircraft parts distributor or airline operator unwittingly or with prior knowledge installs counterfeit flap and alerion actuators rod ends. Said part fails and the aircraft crashes.

Remember that when a repair shop buys what appear to be premium brake pads and hardware from a dealer on Amazon and said break pads delaminate from their backings and fail, Said SUV fly’s through an intersection and takes out 2 cars causing damage to personal property and putting lives at risk.

If me calling you a name will cause a person inclined to buy this stuff pause before supporting these activities then the better.

Now go enjoy your fake cables from a country that had threatened our Speaker of The House.

Is it being argued that buying a "fake" cable from a Chinese distributor is going to kill someone, somewhere in the world? Sounds similar to the plot from the movie, The Box. 

Just what's with all the alarmist rhetoric going on? Remember back when Hussein was ruling Iraq? Everyone and anyone who wanted to have a job had to be a member of the Ba'athist party or you'd starve. That same narrow way of thinking led to the US not employing anyone who was affiliated with them (a stupid standard) which led to a massively disaffected and out of work police force and army which spawned ISIS. But hey, we sure did show them, didn't we?

Now, fast forward to present day goings on and you have an entire country run by an autocrat who takes a piece of all the action and who has some pretty horrible human rights practices but the general population is just trying to get by.

Some of those people are hard working stiffs stuck in that system trying to make a living where there are no laws regarding copyright protections. It's been that way since, forever, and is just their way of life. And some just happen to have very high work standards and pride of work just like here, in the states, and they can turn out some incredibly well made product at a price that's too good to pass up for those who want high quality at a price they can afford. 

That puts us in this present day, simplistic argument that's not going to make anyone happy as no one is going to budge and neither side should. Go with your own beliefs and moral standards and to those who can rise above and see through the BS, be happy with your choices.

And yes, they shouldn't brand their product as the real thing but in the end, it's been repeatedly pointed out that no one is falling for it. Googling the name just gets one to the site with the product they want and that's about it. On those sites are plenty of other similar makes with completely different and original names with some made by the very same people who make the knock offs. How do the naysayers respond to that? Would that satisfy and quench their hate?

All the best,
Nonoise

Don’t see many counterfeit audio cables causing a lot of plane crashes and car accidents. Question; when they counterfeit an aileron, do they always label it an 'alerion'?

Juan, your writing style and late night personality changes are very similar to a recently banned member.

C’mon, tell us your banned username...