Chinese fake cables How fake, how good?

Wow do I come into this discussion late! Two years! 

First, let me say I am one of the poor sots that can hear cable differences. It's a curse. For you that don't, you are blessed. You will never be tempted to pay the ourtageous prices for cables the rest of us are. Second, I, like most of you, have a beer bottle pocket and champaign taste.  That said, I am in the process of upgrading/tweeking my old sound system. At the core is a 90's era Conrad Johnson preamp and amp. I have loved my old Cardas Quadlinks that I have owned for 30 years. They were my reference cable. The truth is, however, the highs now sound veiled. They are lacking the detail and sound staging (like air) that new cables and tastes seem to be. I tried 4 different levels of Cardas cables and without a doubt chose the Clear interconnects. I paid $2800. NUTS. Me and the price! Before I bought those, I returned a set of Parsecs because for that sound, they weren't worth $400. I bought "Cardas Clear Light's" off the Aliexpress for $45 for curiosity. The appearence and visible build quality was shockingly accurate. The highs sounded very similar to the Parsecs, but seemd to have a better bass. I couldn't do A/B testing, but really! They bumped out the old and very real Quadlinks.  I am willing to pay the high price (gulp) when the product warrents it, as the legit Clears really did. But, in defense of the Chinese manufacturing, they can make decent quality products. Not all of it is junk. I think they should just put their own name on the things (like SKW for example). The clones could say: "compare sound signature to (insert brand)" .  A lot more of us would be open to trying them and they could be compared to the real thng in the open market. AND it might drive the authentic cable prices down. 

As long as this old thread has been brought back from the dead, I might as well pitch in my feelings.

I have no problems buying Chinese cable "clones", because I am not taking any money out of the pockets of the real companies. As much as I spend on audio, I am not about to spend high dollars for cables*.

So, if I buy Chinese cable clones, I do not do it in lieu of buying the original cable, but as a standalone purchase. I am not weighing the 2 options; spend thousands on this Nordost cable, or spend under $100 for this clone, because I would never do the the former in the first place. And I doubt, anyone with the kind of money who would be able to buy the original Nordost (or whatever other high end cable), is going to be buying the Chinese clone.

The first Chinese clone I bought was about 4 years ago. My cousin, who belongs to an audiophile club in Phoenix, told me about them after his club did listening tests of a flat cable Nordost clone. I bought a pair of .5 meter cables for about $50 to go between my phono stage and preamp. It’s built very good, uses non ferrous RCA connectors.

Does it sound as good as the real thing? I have no idea. But it is as good as the more budget level audiophile cables (Blue Jeans, Morrow, and their ilk), for still quite a bit less those.

I also bought a Chinese clone of a MBL 6010 preamp as a "stop gap" a year ago, after my preamp blew up. I doubt it sounds as good as the real thing, but it sounds better than my old Luxman (a highly thought of vintage unit), for sure, and it holds its own against my friend’s Parasound JC2.

*I am not a ’cable denier’ (I hate that term)

It’s not black and white. Many US audio electronics, speakers, etc. contain parts made in China. Resistors, capacitors, batteries, cables for instruments(like this) etc. or they are entirely assembled in China, or elsewhere. Those products are, nevertheless, designated as Made in the USA. This is not to say China isn’t capable of making some products, including some audio products, that are very high quality.

Totally agree with that. And, as a rule, quality depends on a budget. 

This is not a best case for saving money

My $10 interconnects sound like Telefunkens—open, clear, transparent, neutral and fast. I’ve compared them to ICs up to $500 and the win every time.

I purchased a cheap Chinese made PC on Amazon, just to try it and see for myself . Thick with red/black weaving for that “audiophile” look with a plug stamped “hospital grade”. Was $30 at the time. Looking closely at the plug through the semi transparent plug, you could see half or more of the wire was frayed and sticking out from the terminal screw not making contact.  Pure junk that might end up being a safety hazard..  even at $30, it’s a huge ripoff.