Counterfeit Chinese Cables
I thought that I would write this for those who are curious about one of the many counterfeit Chinese interconnect cables that are available these days. I know that there have been threads about the subject before, and I was always curious because they seem to be such a bargain. I don't really recall much about what any members actually said about the performance of these counterfeit cables, and I didn't look back and do any research, but a couple of months ago there was a thread that came around to discussing the quality of Chinese made components, and oldhvymec said something that made sense to me.
He said that people that say that what they are making is junk should consider that much of what is in our gear, and a lot of our American brands are actually manufactured there. I decided shortly after that that I would take the chance on a set of interconnects, because I suspected that the interconnects going from my pre to my amp were the weak link and needed upgrading. The interconnects going from my DAC to my pre were Kimber Select which are very good, but the other set were LAT International (now defunct) which had cost $500.00 when new, but I had reason to believe they were lacking because I have one of their digital cables that turned out to be very poor sounding in comparison to others I own.
I decided on a one meter pair of counterfeit Nordost Odin interconnects for a total of $104.00 from Aliexpress. I received them a couple of weeks later. They appeared to be well made, and the locking fake WBT rca's were very impressive and are very tight.
First impressions after installing them were light, thin sound, lacking bass. Each couple of days brought improvements, but from the beginning I noticed that they were quieter. Now, weeks later, I can say that they are drastically better that the LAT's in every way. Detail and ambience are much better, but it's the focus and separation of instruments that is most noticeable.
I have no way of knowing if they are really a copy of the Nordost design, but I am impressed enough that I am going to try a counterfeit Nordost digital cable.
Obviously, this isn't a comparison that is useful to most, because there probably isn't anyone here using the LAT's, and everything is system dependent. I just wanted to relay my positive experience.
@roxy54 yes I have opened it up and confirmed it is silver plated wire. Very well constructed. I added a second 10ga copper ground wire to the ground terminal on the plug to connect it directly to a Russ Andrews RF Router MK II which does an excellent job of removing noise to improve clarity. It’s my effort to replicate RA’s EVO-S PowerKord floating grounding method. Time will tell how if it adds a benefit. Fun giving it a go with these low cost power cords.
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@roxy54 that might be my error…I saw the silver wire and assumed it is plated at this price. A lot of these descriptions can be misleading. They mention silver purity etc and say 5NOCC but don’t mention plated copper. Oops! At this price I just cannot see it being all silver. Next time I open one up I will remove the wires anD give it a good look. |
@roxy54 ok curiosity got the best of me so I opened one up and can confirm it is silver plated copper not solid. |
Another thing I’m curious about is the quality of the ubiquitous “carbon fiber plug” connectors (xlr/rca/5-15p) and whether or not they’re any good. They appear on a ton of cables on AliExpress, including several of the Nordost knockoffs. Heck, I have a pair of Underwood HiFi’s $400 gold series interconnects that use these connectors. As an aside, I have a sneaking suspicion that these cables are sourced through the same channels as the much cheaper cables we’re seeing on AliExpress.For instance, the $349 Underwood gold series power cable looks pretty much identical to the ones sold on AliExpress as an Accuphase/shuko cable. https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/linx https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/valiant https://m.aliexpress.com/item/33016795882.html?gatewayAdapt=Pc2Msite
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