You can not necessarily determine if the cables are real or fake by looking at them. You cannot tell if the cables have been cryo’d, which most high end cables are. You can’t tell if the copper is continuous cast copper or the purity or country of origin. You can’t tell how the welds were made on the connectors. You can’t tell if the cables have been controlled for directionality. As to how good the fakes are, they might be better than Brand X but they won’t be as good as the real thing. No way, Jose!
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.
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When I started this thread I mentioned that neither myself or the audio shop salesman could tell the difference between my fake Cardas Clear Light and the real thing. Geoff Kait seems to think that is not possible but I wonder how many Chinese cables Geoff has compared to the real thing. Anyway given my positive experience with the Cardas I decided to try the Odin copy for the mighty price of US$120. The result was amazing, better than the Cardas by far, so next on the list is the fake Odin 2. As I don't know anyone who has the means to buy the genuine Odin or even a Hi Fi shop in Australia likely to have a pair of interconnects lying around on their inventory I will never be able to compare my fake with the genuine article. I wonder how many of the naysayers re Chinese cables out there have actually tried them. I don't care what the cables look like, cryo'd or not, copper or connectors used, my sole criteria is what difference they make to the sound of my system and the fake cables I have tried so far make plenty difference and all positive. |
mazian OP16 posts04-09-2019 3:36amWhen I started this thread I mentioned that neither myself or the audio shop salesman could tell the difference between my fake Cardas Clear Light and the real thing. Geoff Kait seems to think that is not possible but I wonder how many Chinese cables Geoff has compared to the real thing. Anyway given my positive experience with the Cardas I decided to try the Odin copy for the mighty price of US$120. >>>>>Actually I didn’t say it was not possible. Please don’t force words down my throat. As I oft counsel, no single test is conclusive for a great many reasons. Especially when the results are negative. Perhaps especially when the subject of the test is cables. Read my lips 👄. Conclusions regarding possible differences between two cables might be established after many tests by many listeners in many different systems. But these conclusions can be very elusive. That’s why Cable debates are still going strong after 40 years. Hel-loo! |
If you can’t tell the sonic difference then the only thing fake are the prices some audiophile snobs are being charged. Global economics doesn’t bother people on other areas, so why worry about a few stuck up Hi-Fi snobs? The Western world economic system is close to hanging by a thread. http://www.usdebtclock.org |
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