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.
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I just watched that video...what a hoot! So, Jay just discovered counterfeit Nordost cables, and now he thinks that he's giving us all the news for the first time. Maybe someone should give him the news that the fake ones have a good number of satisfied customers who use them, and also have enough money left over to buy a nice new car. So glad that he quit audiogon when he saw that there was no money to be made here. |
That's quite a video. Thanks for sharing. A couple of thoughts: 1. I haven't reviewed every response in this thread, but I don't recall anyone claiming that Faux-dins are physically identical to Odins. Nor do I recall anyone claiming that they sound the same. I do recall consistent testimony that the the Faux-dins punch above their weight based on cost. 2. His video will be very useful to Chinese producers. He gave them relatively easy to implement list of changes to align their products more closely with the original. 3. One point, though, is well taken (though it's been made here for months): the used market for expensive cables is now far more fraught for buyers. 4. When did caveat emptor become fresh again? Did we have a moment as a culture/market when we forgot? If so, I missed it. I do recall a period when folks thought that the then-new tech companies were more humane and less mercenary, but that didn't last and I didn't realize we had generalized. Feeling a bit caustic today. |
The reason I take the time to post about cables is that IMO the companies that make the extremely expensive ones make baseless claims that do not even remotely justify the stupid money they are asking for so many of them. This is akin to selling snake oil-- baseless claim and obscene profits. Sorry if that bugs you, but everything that I have said about this subject is incontrovertibly true. Disagree? Then take me up on one of my testing scenarios and show me that you can reliably rank cables based upon their price. I have a pretty high resolution system BTW, and have experimented with cables for years. I'm still open to being wrong, but I don't need to tell myself fibs in order to feel that I'm right. Better to focus on your actual gear and room acoustics than the occult claims of cable manufacturers. There are far too many conmen in this hobby-- I think they SHOULD be outed for making BS claims. Maybe it will save a few folks exploring these forums from joining the army of true believers and getting ripped off in the process. So why does that bother you so much? |
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