Counterfeit Chinese Cables
I thought that I would write this for those who are curious about one of the many counterfeit Chinese interconnect cables that are available these days. I know that there have been threads about the subject before, and I was always curious because they seem to be such a bargain. I don't really recall much about what any members actually said about the performance of these counterfeit cables, and I didn't look back and do any research, but a couple of months ago there was a thread that came around to discussing the quality of Chinese made components, and oldhvymec said something that made sense to me.
He said that people that say that what they are making is junk should consider that much of what is in our gear, and a lot of our American brands are actually manufactured there. I decided shortly after that that I would take the chance on a set of interconnects, because I suspected that the interconnects going from my pre to my amp were the weak link and needed upgrading. The interconnects going from my DAC to my pre were Kimber Select which are very good, but the other set were LAT International (now defunct) which had cost $500.00 when new, but I had reason to believe they were lacking because I have one of their digital cables that turned out to be very poor sounding in comparison to others I own.
I decided on a one meter pair of counterfeit Nordost Odin interconnects for a total of $104.00 from Aliexpress. I received them a couple of weeks later. They appeared to be well made, and the locking fake WBT rca's were very impressive and are very tight.
First impressions after installing them were light, thin sound, lacking bass. Each couple of days brought improvements, but from the beginning I noticed that they were quieter. Now, weeks later, I can say that they are drastically better that the LAT's in every way. Detail and ambience are much better, but it's the focus and separation of instruments that is most noticeable.
I have no way of knowing if they are really a copy of the Nordost design, but I am impressed enough that I am going to try a counterfeit Nordost digital cable.
Obviously, this isn't a comparison that is useful to most, because there probably isn't anyone here using the LAT's, and everything is system dependent. I just wanted to relay my positive experience.
For a service fee $, if buy used and they don’t sound or look right, you can send in your unknown Cardas and they will investigate, validate, and/or authenticate for you.
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No, call them and ask. It’s likely you get to pay shipping to send your fake cable to Cardas to validate, and check if you have to pay for shipping the fake cables back to you on return. Then pay to ship them back to the person you bought them from. Worst deal ever to pay for fake non-performing cables. Best of luck on that! |
Exactly. Buy the real McCoy if you can, not the one pretending to be something else. At least you’ll have a better idea of what you are getting. |
Before you buy and strip apart the lower cost AE purchased version, listen [back and forth over 30 days] and compare the sound to the authentic USA purchased version. This is what really matters. Then call Cardas and ask them to share with you a few stories of the fakes that get sent in [by curious and unknowing customers] for authenticity certification. Ask them where some of these other large well-known USA Mfgs source their copper from. They likely won’t share this, but you get the drift. You can make really good pasta and really good cookies with a great recipe and amazing ingredients and they taste fantastic. Or use a generic recipe made with crap ingredients, well...I digress. Best of luck on the mission to find real quality and value for great sound.
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Say more. Cannot imagine. What might you be thinking of or suggesting?
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Good to know. Thanks for the follow-up @kray. That sure makes it easier for those who are wondering and want to give something a try. There ya go!
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Seems like a reasonable option, considering you might learn a little more about what you are getting without cutting it open to discover the mystery prize inside. Compare a lower price authentic cable from a legitimate manufacturers product against a cheaply priced counterfeit one. One might be surprised which one actually sounds better.
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Exactly. And likely to get better quality (less filtered) sounding cables too. Or, if you try them, and don’t like them and decide to resale them, at least you can do so without having to explain to the next buyer "why you don’t like the fake cables that don’t sound like the real McCoy". Maybe some nice genuine Chinese brand cables to try too - whatever those might be. |
If anyone wants to see what FAKE COUNTERFEIT Cardas interconnect cables look like, go to aliexpress right now, and type in "Cardas" or "Cardas RCA" or "Cardas XLR". Good grief, now there is 5x more than last year. All crap junk. Every single pair on the site listed right now is absolutely 100% fake counterfeit garbage. I won't share how or ways to identify it online, NOT to give them a leg up on perfecting their craft of fakeness, but any Cardas owner or a sharp eye can see it on every single ad just studying the photos and text alone. There are at least 4-5 ways to identify the fakeness by studying closely without even cutting them open. If you do buy a set, before you throw them in the garbage, send them to Cardas to hang on their fake cable display, and so they can add more photos on their site. .
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I read some posts a while back by someone thinking they scored a real pair of Cardas Clear Sky interconnects at a great deal. Hopefully you are correct that most know better than to fall for it.
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