Ali Baba

Buyer beware, but generally, if it is too good to be true, it is.  You will not get a close facsimile of a $4K product with a $10 copy.  As @loomisjohnson said, there are 3 types of counterfeit products, this I believe this is true. 

I have heard from my brother, who is not in the audio business, he approached and has also been approached by factories that make the real thing and try to sell him an identical copy.

Buyer Beware purchased a $ 13 knockoff(looked legit from the outside) of a few hundred dollar  Cardas interconnect just to see what's up.  Junk is what's up. Note it would send my amp into clipping, weird. Took the interconnect  apart poor soldering, burnt through pin from heat, barley any copper wire. it has been recycled so some good can come from it lol.

i'd surmise that almost all of the deeply-discounted western-branded gear on ali is counterfeit, in the sense of not being authorized by or sold for the account of the brand.  however, broadly speaking you find three types of counterfeit products--(a) junk which has no relation to the real thing but simply has a (fake) brand label, (b) cloned products which are meticulous copies of the real thing, and (c) actual, identical products sold out the back door by the brand's contract manufacturer. i've heard some of the cloned stuff--e.g. a "naim" amp and sennheiser earphone replicants--which are sold for a fraction of the real thing, and much of it sounded purty damn good. of course, none of this addresses the ethical and legal aspects of buying the copies, but the quality can be surprisingly excellent. 

They are counterfeit, but I am not sure if all of them are junk.  Looking at this one currently:  

Reaserch where is original cable manufactured or parts sourced.
China, the fake manufacturer may be OEM . Use prudence to decide.

The Absolute Reference Audio Labs (Tara Labs) is Australia borne company moved to US about thirty years ago and all their cables made in Oregon USA. 

I find AliExpress ok, and find regardless what the cable says on it, you generally get what you pay for in China. More often than not the material they use is as advertised or stated. I have a few preferred vendors, AT Audio for instance, Xangsane cable makes some fine product. For serious applications I go NA or EUR made, but for a lot of interesting offerings at great prices, I go Chinois. I actually find the fake names funny - It is true some of the lower end (inexpensive) cables can be shoddy in construction - but again, you get what you pay for, money talks. Drop $200 on a chinese cable, you will be delivered something great, I can say that...

Reaserch where is original cable manufactured or parts sourced.
China, the fake manufacturer may be OEM . Use prudence to decide.

Alibaba or Aliexress very difficult get refund or discount on damage. Goalpost will be repositioned every evidence you give.

Shows AliExpress 75days garantee but damaged on arraival Claim must be made within 3days, says later. No unpacking video evidence wil convince them. Appeal, further ask photos of postage details within 24 hour(don't trow the Pocket) Any delay dispute closed and no option even 75days claim in case product goes kaput later.

Thank twice before buying from China companies

Be wary of AliExpress.

Not only counterfeit. It also could be hazardous due to toxic materials. Before you bring it home all that staff has to be checked for polluting elements like mercury, lead, cadmium etc. 

Thank-you, urbie,you stole my thunder!

Opinions are like...................

Rolex for 5 bucks - and full pants of happiness?
China is a fake (technology and even culture) - you cannot steal what crystallizes over many centuries ...

Some of the counterfeit stuff sounds really good,imo..to dismiss as pure junk is silly at best

@urbie + 1 

Pure JUNK BEWARE!!!!!

If you want the best answer send a picture to the manufacturer. They know what fake cables look like.

Thanks, guys. I kind of knew but feel better having reached out to everyone.  

I have an AQ well speaker cable Pair I paid 200.00 for, Of course it's a fake,  I knew it was when I bought it.  The damn thing sounded excellent against 8TC. I've replaced it now. If the builder concentrated on building his own cables instead of fakes, I believe he could sell many. 

It has got be be "fake".

Chinese counterfeit wire manufacturers know exactly that wires make no difference. All they have to do is making them look the same and it works 99% of cases unless consumer decides to splice and see what's going on.

Yes it is all counterfeit. 

Look at companies like Zavfino Cable, Signal Cable or used before you buy this counterfeit crap.

Support small North American business not the CCP. 

  http://signalcable.com/analog_interconnects.html

Correctamundo.

Their stuff might perform 90%. Might be 10%.

Do ya feel lucky?

One thing for sure any returns are problematic.

One cable I got was NOT soldered at all on the hot lead one end.

He offered 10% discount on another one.

Humbug.