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.
128x128mazian
I (unknowingly) got a set of what I believe to be fake speaker cables from an auction site. The quality is on par with other cables from Awdio ####. There are silver and copper strands, just like there was supposed to be. The cable ends are spot on. The braiding, the wire loom covering, cable junctions...all of it is on point. I would be fairly confident in saying that they came from the same line that makes them for the mfg. I just got a couple sets of interconnects today, five days to get to me from China. They look spot on. I will take a look deeper internally to see what they are constructed of underneath. 
Well, inside the cable is silver wire (which is was supposed to be.) It has a smudge of silicone, so pretty sure that is not the normal spec. The craftsmanship and finish are impressive. I won't have them installed until next week, but they definitely look the part.
That's usually the case, the "fake" cables are off the same manufacturing line using the same materials, just without the inordinate amount of mark-up and profit. When you consider the idea of getting ripped off, you gotta wonder who is really doing the ripping off.
With perhaps rare exception, they are not from the same manufacturer. Cosmetically they look very similar, but when you open one up, they use cheap materials. They are nothing alike. You are gullible to think differently.