2. cables
  3. 147199-117322

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
zalive
24 posts
 
@zalive, sadly I found your words to be all too true. I still remember all the hassle of trying to source genuine high purity OFC copper speaker cables on eBay.

After trying to trawl through the maze of varying prices and some non too convincing pictures and fine print descriptions I gave up went to Amazon UK and read through the reviews there which eventually led me to some transparent sleeved BasicLine15 metre 2x2 5mm set from Germany (DCSk) claiming to be 99.99% saueurstoffreie.

I have no real way of knowing whether they are the genuine article but they are reassuringly heavy and do have that reddish copper colour.
By the way, beware of Sonarquest. I found out they don't stick to their own specification - they confirmed to me they now use berylium bronze instead of pure copper for EU Schuko plugs, yet they didn't update the spec on their web page. They claim they use cryo treatment, however after finding out the false spec I'm not sure I trust them. Furthermore, they call this a 'material upgrade', which is a ridiculous claim - any bronze is far inferior to pure copper. 

So when you find out the brand owner downgrades its products and keeps false specs, what can you expect from fake or no-brand market? That they keep their word?

On the good side, I checked Viborg plugs too and underneath the plating is red copper (I cannot check the purity of course). There are occasional discounts on those plugs and when it's so it's a good value product. Also, all my recommendations to genuine Star Line RCA from ebay, this is high quality stuff. 
Post removed 
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

This is a hobby and lifestyle folks don’t get all twisted about it. I’ve had my products "faked" by several companies here in the states as well as over seas. At first I was offended and wanted justification, then I realized it’s all a part of life.

I don’t see the "fake" products as any more unethical as the people way over-charging for products that are poor performers dressed up.

mg

too many people come to audio forums with a bad mood to begin with, that tells me they aren’t really listening to the message of the music

scroydon's avatar
scroydon
25 posts
 
Just another thought for those trying to buy the real item but wanting to save some money.

Do a search like the following to see whether an item is legit or not:

krell cryo-196 power cable -ebay -aliexpress

In this example, I found almost no one selling the item once ebay and Aliexpress are left out of the search. This would suggest that Krell Cryo 196 power cable are probably fakes or knockoffs since there is little to no seemingly legitimate online sales.

If an item is too discounted it is likely junk.
mboldda1's avatar
mboldda1
575 posts
 
is there a list somewhere that has all the name brand cables that are being copied out of china?
More to discover