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
nasaman writes:
All I know is that the day they (Chinese?) successfully make fake Synergistic Reserach active shielding cables/ cords, that’d be the day I’m looking into making my own cables or buying factory direct... so sad.


Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

Haven't read them all its just too much nonsense but from a quick scan nasaman seems to be the only one who gets it.

Everyone's talking about counterfeits and fakes and its all beside the point. For all we know these may very well be legit cables - legit at least in the sense of being same materials, manufacture, etc. Just not legit in the sense they are being marketed legitimately with respect to trademark and other property rights we take for granted here in the West but are so universally disregarded in China.

Ted Denney III on the other hand, so far as I know all his wire is hand made right here in America, in California, and a lot of it by the same guy who has been building them for many, many years. 

Anyone who has built anything high end audio related, one of the first things you learn is every little detail matters. Just one reason DIY cables are such crap. Clearly what the OP is talking about is not crap. It seems to be indistinguishable from the originals. Therefore, either it is indeed the exact same thing just taken from production and sold outside approved channels, or the OP, et al, can't hear.

My bet is these cables are the real deal. Just cheap. Because the companies involved, instead of doing the hard work of learning to build something good enough to be built right here in the USA and still compete on price, have decided to farm out production. 

If that happened they're the ones being ripped off. Which is just fine with me. Only adds to my respect for Ted Denney and Synergisitic Research, for refusing to play that game.
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I bought last week a pair of Odin 2 XLR from Aliexpress. Clearly fake but sounds very good for the money. I replace an old synergistic apex and  odin 2I sounds better, clearly In bass punch and definition. Keep warm sounds off my DAC denafrips, pre ARC ref 3 and power ARC ref 110 and LUMIN A1. I bought another one. I connect it between DAC and pre. When the new one arrives I’ll test connecting pre and power.
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.