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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. 

Nordost ODIN&2 RCA Fever Audio Signal Cable Double Lotus Sterling Silver Audio Cord Video CD Amplifier Tube Cable High Quality| | - AliExpress

128x128roxy54
hdm
1,062 posts
 

I only have experience with the fake Golds but I really like them. At somewhere around the 50-75 hour mark they became much more relaxed and holographic for lack of a better word (and they are pretty relaxed right out of the bag). Soundstage depth was probably marginally enhanced but depth or sense of depth seemed to really improve with break in. They are a very "musical" cable as opposed to a "hi-fi" sounding cable.

I’m going to experiment a bit further and have a couple of sets of the Golds cryogenically treated and see how they react. As it is right now, they are the only non-cryoed cables in my system as I’ve been either having stuff cryoed myself or running cables that have been treated by the manufacturer for the past 15+ years.

I’m not looking forward to the burn-in post cryo as it will be a bit nasty and definitely take some time (50-100 hours all over again I’d expect, maybe more) and I normally just take cables in to one of my local dealers to have them run on the cable cooker for a few days after cryo. Cost is there but the benefits of not having to deal with burn-in are worth it IMO.

But my dealer with the cable cooker is a Nordost dealer and I don’t have the heart to show up there with multiple pairs of fake Odin Golds (would be two initially and then possibly 4 more!) and ask them to cook them lol!

 

 

jetter
3,035 posts
 

Pluses and flipsides

The plus is that you have informed somewhere south of 39,000 viewers that they can buy counterfeits of very expensive cables for very little $s.  This alerts potential buyers of the real thing to be very careful when purchasing on the used market.

The flipside is that you have informed the unscrupulous of these 39,000 of the potential to make some easy money selling counterfeits to unsuspecting buyers thinking they are getting the real thing.

Unfortunately, the real loser of this situation is the unsuspecting buyer thinking he is purchasing an authentic cable.  The real winner is the manufacturer of the genuine wire that is being sold for such extravagant prices.  I am totally guessing that all the R&D, material and manufacture costs of the wire (genuine) is under $300.  As I have mentioned before, compared to the complexity of designing amps, sources and speakers, and the complexity of many of the jobs held by members of this forum, the development of a good/excellent sounding cable seems pretty mundane.  Just my opinion.

jetter
3,035 posts
 

OK, up the $300 o $500, LOL.

bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,217 posts
 

For anyone interested, I've found a compromise that works for me.  You can see it on thread "Not Chinese Fakes But Not big $$$ Either"  

tweak1
3,672 posts
 

A fellow 'phile who pointed me to the Odin Gold says he likes these better

https://www.china-hifi-audio.com/choseal-hi-fi-cables-qiuyeyuan-c-16/choseal-bb-5605-balanced-interconnects-cables-xlr-pair-occ-hiend-p-94

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