Recently I've been trying to sell an older version (without Furutech) of Cardas Golden Reference power cord. For some reason, I have got a lot of questions asking whether this cable is authentic and whether it has a certificate of authenticity.
Are there really that many fake Cardas cables out there, or is this just a smart marketing scam by Cardas to create fear in people so as to make them buy from only select distributors and allow Cardas to better control retail prices? I cannot imagine that counterfeiters would have nothing better to do all day but produce only fake Cardas cables on a mass scale, where in my view there are a lot of much better power cables out there, such as Stealth, Synergistic, NBS, Shunyata, Nordost, etc.
I have purchased other power cords that cost many times more than the Golden Reference, but I have not heard from these manufacturers about fakes in the marketplace. Many of these brands do not issue the so-called "certificate of authenticity". In this day and age, if they can produce fakes of the cable, don't we think that they can also produce fakes of "certificate of authenticity", just as there are fake driver license and ID cards.
Frankly, I don't really care if I sell my GR cable because it is not a major expense for me as compared to how much I've already sunk into my system. It is just annoying to have to answer all these emails, and I think it would be rather disingenuous of Cardas if all this talk about so many fakes of their products in the market were not true....
Yes, there are a lot of fake Cardas. I personally got a pair. I bought a pair of 1/2M XLR Golden Reference a few years ago. They have no logo on the connectors. The seller told me they were re-terminated by the dealer. I didn't suspect anything at that time. Some times later, I saw a message on Cardas website about the counterfeited cable so I sent mine to Cardas to authenticate and it turned out they are completely fake.
If you aren't sure, I suggest you contact Cardas and have them authenticated.
There are better cables that would yeild more money than counterfiet Cardas. I am willing to bet that some of the fakes may even sound better than the real thing. Sorry I have taken in on trade Cardas cables in the past and sent them back to have the termination fixed. Of course I tried them in my system once they were shipped back from Cardas just to find out old school Oxygen free copper Radio Shack 1m RCA interconnects beat the crap out of authentic Cardas Golden Reference 1m RCA cables, " Atleast in my system".
..yes Thesoundhouse....and on My system real Cardas is the worst sounding cables I could find....anything is better...tried lots and lots of them. I have heard Cardas sound ok, but on MY system they were awful...the power cords are the worst of the bunch.
I've thought the same thing. The Kimber site also has a blog entry talking about fake Kimber cables being sold on eBay and Audiogon. And the pictures they have of the fakes? They look totally indistinguishable from the 'real thing' to me (as in ... I'd have probably fallen for them hook, line and sinker, at least based upon their appearance ...).
There have been reports of counterfeit Tara Labs and NBS cable in the past. If you send a used Tara Labs cable to the company to be examined, and they find it to be counterfeit, they won't return it to you.
Elizabeth brings up a good point on the Kimber - the fake 8TC cables look like dead ringers for the real thing (to me, at least). But the $2000+ 8AG you see for sale (oftentimes, but not always, from sellers in SE Asia) *does* indeed look a bit suspect.
And, per Gslone's post above, I guess I'd think twice before sending suspect cables to Tara Labs for verification ... ("hey, give me my fake Taras back!...")
Gsclone , being 100% Asian, I understand your comment. The fact is, the bulk of the counterfeits do come out of China and also Russia. The fakes are also very good copies now. I am amazed to see what is being produced and how good the fakes are now. This includes high end furniture, lighting.
Ever see So called Japanese cd pressings on ebay being sold as new,cheap from China? Most are fake, but have the OBI and look perfect. I mention, as i am a big collector of Japanese music pressings.
The low cost of labor I believes drives this, and of course greed, lack of respect for intellectual property .
What does scare me is to read what Tara labs is doing . So if i send then a cable for evaluation or repair, and they claim it is fake, not made by me, they will still keep it, game over? If so, thanks for the tip....I will never buy a cable from them, new or used.
@Mceljo, It is possible. It also raises a question. What if (I am not saying it will) at some point in the future Cardas decided to source its cable from the same source which made the fake? Than, what is real and what is fake?
Cardas are not bad cables. Some have been used in best of show at the electronic shows so they can not be that bad as you say. lol Everything is system dependent.
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