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.
@tweak1 …”, my guess is as long as the seller presents them honestly,” This is where I have the concern. First one buys counterfeit and then years later… think folks are going to explain they are counterfeit? Sure a few. But the used audio market is international. If you look for cables… there are lots of sellers from all over the world.
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Simple, the same reason a Rolex is orders of magnitude more than a plastic digital watch. They both tell time. Someone is willing to pay for it. That’s how the market works. It’s not magic, it’s capitalism. Why a Picasso cost millions and a painting from the flee market cost ten bucks, why a Ferrari cost more than most houses? Hope that helps. |
@hdm +100% Nailed It 👍👏 |
Think about every one of the people who purchased Rolex knock offs? There are thousands of times more of them than those buying Chinese cable knock offs. The watches were inevitably made in China. Anyone buying either knows they are fakes. A friend who happens to be an IRS agent has bought several and swears by their accuracy. No he wouldn’t mention it on a forum.
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Agreed. Public Service announcement: All six pairs of my imitation (it is the sincerest form of flattery!) Odin Gold interconnects share the same serial number 02280. Under no circumstances should anyone pay more than $19 for a half metre pair or about $38 (delivered to your door lol) for Odin Gold IC’s bearing this serial number! 😉 |
Let's put this into some context and perspective in terms of the "illegality". These knockoffs are being sold not at 50-60% of Nordost's prices, let alone the 10% stated above by a poster concerned about the counterfeiting. The Odin Gold IC's I purchased are being sold at 1/20th of 1% of the quoted retail price of the real thing lol! There was not much chance I believed them to be actual Odin Gold haha! The idea that Nordost is being damaged in any real way is ludicrous as the buyer for one product is simply not the buyer for the other. So it's pretty ridiculous to suggest Nordost is being harmed in any meaningful way. If someone wants to suggest that there might be an issue with someone reselling and representing the item as the real thing then that is another issue entirely and far more reprehensible IMO. Save your outrage for that. So as far as any outrage I feel toward the Ali-express sellers of the interconnects I bought, I'd put it at about the same level of outrage that I feel toward people driving 2-3 miles per hour over the speed limit. That's illegal too, and much more likely to actually be harmful. As you can tell, I'm not losing any sleep over that either. I do that for things that are actually important. I'm not really interested in "slippery slope" type arguments here. It would be great if we lived in a black and white world but unfortunately we do not. Once again: context & perspective. Continue on with discussion about the actual cable (which as I've said, is really quite good). |
Ive said from the beginning, whoever is making these knockoffs, is AFAIK, "only" pirating the name and most of the model names (BAD ENOUGH), BUT,... they are not actual 100% knockoffs of the Nordost products, they should have used something like NEARdost Someone asked about Valhalla v Valhalla 2. I read a bonified review that the V2 was a big step above V1, and the Odin is above them. Originally I ordered all Odin2, but as learned more I tried the Gold, which in my SS added some warmth, so I ordered Odin 2 Gold speaker cables in January 18th from Goltech at that time they said it would ship by now. I contacted them and was told 3 more weeks. I would not use them again. Sadly, AFAIK, they are the only Ali-E company selling them. HIFI-DIY Store has great service and communication updates throughout HTH |
@duckworp you may as well be talking to the wall. These folks in this thread participating in this criminal enterprise could care less. Save your fingers and the leader is of very questionable ethics and integrity. They are all about “me” , “what’s in it for me”. Kinda like that bunch in D.C.
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I am surprised when reading this thread just how many people do not recognise that buying counterfeit goods is fundamentally wrong. It is obviously illegal to sell counterfeit goods in domestic law but that law is not recognised by the Chinese authorities. But I do not understand how those that purchase true counterfeit goods (where the product is branded with a logo) can’t see the immoral nature of the purchase.
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@phastm3 which Valhalla speaker cables did you purchase Valhalla or Valhalla 2? |
The “nordost” gold speaker cables are the only ones that I didn’t like. I also have a set of the”nordost” Valhalla speaker cables…..they sound really good. My previous speaker cables were Cerious graphene matrix. All of my previous power cables and interconnects were Shunyata, snake river, audioquest and audio Art. The CCP gold cables all sounded just as good or better than the expensive cables they replaced. I replaced $10k worth of cables with $600 worth or cables. |
Jetter:
The first two pairs I purchased from Preffair and the remainder (4 pairs) were purchased from Moonsaudio. All Nordost Odin Gold rca to rca. They appear to be identical in construction/plugs etc. and perform the same. Anyone who says these are garbage has clearly never heard them. To follow up on my last post, I did go ahead and have all the sets I owned cryoed and burned in on an Audiodharma cable cooker (I initially cryoed and burned in 2 sets and then compared them to stock without cryo/burn-in) and they improved further and exhibited the kinds of improvements I've always had doing this with cables: notably improved detail, refinement and smoothness, a slightly larger soundstage, etc. They are very good cables and easily displaced some pretty good stuff I was using (and thought was a bit of a bargain) before that retails around the $300 mark. And, as I said, I compared them directly in a very good system to real Valhalla version 1 (before cryo and burn-in) and preferred them to the real Valhalla v1. phastm3 seems to have them hooked up to some very nice equipment. It would be interesting if he could comment on (generally) what he was using before and how the Odin Golds compare (it looks like he is using all Odin Gold as well).
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@bigtwin You asked the question:
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@jerryg123 you are getting counterfeit garbage from China. Case closed. Based on the many many positive testimonials on this thread, your statement would appear to be incorrect. My own cables have all come from mainstream manufacturers and I have paid the price in $$$ for the privilege. Still, I wonder why I have paid $1000 for a cable that many here claim can be shamed by a $100 from Ali. The very idea of that just rubs me the wrong way. |
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 @ps I PS my pants reading that post. |
@jetter Fyi- I purchased mine from Moonsaudio with excellent results. 1m rca-rca $35 |
@hdm Would you mind mentioning which Aliexpress vendor you purchased the Chinese Nordost Odin Gold IC’s (RCA to RCA) from, those are on my radar for purchase?
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@bigtwin you are getting counterfeit garbage from China. Case closed.
Then they say Conductor: 10 strands of pure silver Then they say high-quality 99.999999 single crystal copper and 78 micron extruded silver on the surface of 7N OFC In the last claim they seem to mix the terms "single Crystal copper" which should mean OCC copper, with the term 7N OFC which is NOT OCC single crystal.
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@phastm3 Nice collection of systems. I've posted similar pictures and had to explain I don't own all the equipment at the same time. What are those silver discs you have sitting on top of a lot of things? |
@phastm3 Wow! That is one amazing system I can’t even imagine how good that must sound. Any cable would sound fantastic in your house. Cheers to your set up! |
Chinese copy and manual instructions are frequently cryptic and confusing. The way these cables sound for their price I am not concerned what they are made of as long as they don’t set off a Richter Scale😆. I feel these must be OCC copper with pure silver plating with each of the 10 cores shielded as somewhat mentioned. Who know but my main concern is using the Nordost brand, not that anyone would confuse them as real Nordost. |
First line says NORDOST Odin Pure Silver Then they say Conductor: 10 strands of pure silver Then they say high-quality 99.999999 single crystal copper and 78 micron extruded silver on the surface of 7N OFC In the last claim they seem to mix the terms "single Crystal copper" which should mean OCC copper, with the term 7N OFC which is NOT OCC single crystal. Who know what you are actually getting? |
I use a single Odin 2 rca interconnect as digital cable from CD transport to DAC with good success. Wire looks same as the last listing on your list. I prefer the Odin connectors. Not sure how this works on a streamer since I use USB. US $17.15 30％ Off | High Quality Nordost Odin 2 silver Reference interconnects RCA cable Audiophile for amplifier CD player |
I need a 75 Ohm digital cable to run from my streamer (CA 851N) to my Denon A110. I’m looking at the following. Anybody have any experience with these? US $36.96 8%OFF | Top quality NORDOST Odin 2 flagship sterling Silver Coaxial Audio Cable AES/EBU wire RCA HiFi signal line with WBT 0102 RCA plug US $28.27 5%OFF | New HI-END NORDOST ODIN 75 ohm RCA digital coaxial cable AES/EBU signal cable HI-FI audio with WBT-0102 Rhodium plating RCA US $22.55 18%OFF | NORDOST ODIN Fever Grade Audio Signal Cable 75 ohm RCA Digital Coaxial Cable AES/EBU Signal Cable NORDOST ODIN fever grade audio US $12.95 | NORDOST Odin Pure Silver Coaxial Digital Cable Fever Audio Audio Cable AES/EBU Signal Cable
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@ roxy54 OP Now you can hear the sound difference clearly. That’s good. Still you are not sure about the room and a microphone.Many rooms in these videos are same and an only 1 mic is used for recording. A’phile Junkie (YT ID) recorded many rooms (with a camcorder) at the Home Entertainment show (2022). ** In 1st video (my room at the show) the human voice and audio sound are same tone and timber. My room audio sound (singer’s voice) is very close to real human voice. This was 8 months ago with an old 25 watts amp. Nowadays, the sound is much more improved and the new amp (35 watts) is used for new videos. Listen to human voices and audio sounds in every videos.
Listen to my newer video with 35 watts amp. I hope you can hear the sound difference between my audio and others. Also, the true hi-end audio system should sound natural and similar to the original music & sound. Alex/Wavetouch |
Please post which YT videos you watched to hear the sound difference. Please listen below videos if you can hear the sound difference. Alex/Wavetouch |
OP, about @mihorn . I try to be positive… but yeah… you are 100% correct. Indicating you can’t tell the difference on a YouTube video does completely discredit a post. Actually pretty funny. |
Captain Obvious here. Counterfeiting, proper, is the deceptive manufacture of something under another company’s mark without their knowledge. It is fraud. There is no grey area. Reverse engineering and shared sourcing, by contrast, is a common modern practice. It can be challenged in courts as copyright and patent infringement but the burden of the plaintiff is different. As a marketer, I understand the goal of many brands as being a guarantee of certain quality and/or value to purchasers. Just IMO, a savvy buyer may well be making a good value purchase with a lookalike cable…just as they may pay too much for the impression of brand quality that is not counterfeit. Make sense? |
