@spenav I understand your comment and would agree if looking at $100 product. Would still like to hear from people having first hand experience with the "hign end" Chinese made cables. I assume most of the folks on this site are able to tell the difference between quality made and shoddy goods. Returning something to China would be a real pain? No sence in me making a bad choice if someone here can give some advice?
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.
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@roxy54 That is why many use blind testing. Eliminates bias, but you are right I do not care. I refuse to support this business when there are companies like Blue Jeans, Zafino, Signal Cable, Raven Audio that make product in the US and Canada that have the quality, and performance to compete with the brands being counterfeited. |
@spenav I'm chuffed those cables are working nicely in your setup, I'm far from the authority on cables, but I think if you know your system decently well you can make some educated guesses and use cables to tune the sound and improve the synergy. Like I've noticed that if speakers are sounding a bit dull you can use cables with a bit of silver to add a little sparkle, likewise if things are a bit edgy copper can darken the sound and gold can smooth it out a little. I won't pretend to know the scientific reasons why. I've also seen people tune their amp by using different fuses, like silk or beeswax! I actually used a gold-plated fuse to power a previous amp and it did make a subtle difference to the sound, so my guess is that materials make the difference in the signal transmission, which could be beneficial or detrimental depending on the circumstances. That might be why I'm not in favor of counterfeit cables, I don't see a reason why a counterfeit cable should automatically sound 'bad', it's either of a constitution that works well with your system or it isn't, and when it's being sold as one thing when actually it's another, I think that must make it harder for the consumer to intelligently tune their system, especially if they don't know it's a counterfeit. |
@bigtwin You can support a company in Canada, Makes a fantastic product, ships free and cost less than a knockoff. |
@juanmanuelfangioii Thanks for that tip. I just looked at their site. A similar product, being copper & silver plate, is $350 for a 1.5 meter length. I have sent them a message to see if they will build the 5 meter cables I require. This is the cable I am looking at from China. 5 meters pair for $168 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004650557944.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.68e638da540cNB&mp=1
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