“ …. Go buy some counterfeit cables. Hell they all are the same.…”
NOT SO …, Rather, counterfeit fake cables are usually crap builds,
Go check out the OEM CARDAS and NORDOST quality cables versus fake crap build quality fakes explained . It’s graphic. .
http://www.element-acoustics.ca/audio_visits.php?aid=41
OEM CARDAS quality versus illegal fake crap build are vividly compared in the pic ….. Does anybody still think these illegal counterfeit fakes are “OEM knockoffs”“ in terms of same design and same parts and same build quality?
Fake Cables Discovery 1 - counterfeit Nordost
Nordost’s roots were in the Military, Medical and Aerospace industries. It gives the company access to the most advanced materials technologies known to man. Ever since the launch of the first audio products in the early 1990s, Nordost has always insisted on the highest quality, extruded FEP for use in cables’ dielectric and jacketing. FEP has many advantages; primarily, it is the most consistent and best performing dielectric material available, with the exception of air; which is where micro mono-filament technology comes in. The micro mono-filament technology is a process developed by Nordost to reduce the effect of the insulation material. It uses a thread of FEP which is helically wound over each highly polished conductor. A precision FEP jacket is then extruded over the thread and the conductor. A number of proprietory methods are used in this difficult and extremely precise manufacturing technique.
Now that we understand the construction of a genuine Nordost cable, it’s simply not easy to make. We can see that counterfeit cables DO NOT have the technology and manufacturing technique, and it is very costly to duplicate the same construction. Therefore, the counterfeit cable can only duplicate its appearance.
Couple things we can notice on these counterfeit Nordost cables:
- Fake Nordost uses cheap and rubbish rubber /PVC insulator.
- They don’t have the manufacturing technique for proper twisting; instead they need an inner wire for the twist.
- They have poor printing; sometimes misspellings. They also don’t have serial number, and often no box.
- They have poor soldering points, and also counterfeit connectors.
- The counterfeit can’t twist conductor like Nordost, they have to use inner wire (Pic 4)
Counterfeit cable has poor printing, and often in time, misspelling (Pic 3)
This counterfeit Valhalla power cord even comes with fake Wattgate plugs. (Pic 2)
See YouTube [Fake ODIN2 dissected vs the OEM ]
https://youtu.be/GZxnb_kxZIg
Hence, do they still think the fakes going to sound anywhere marginally decent or anywhere close to the OEM?
Your dealer is probably right that his recommendation sound better.
BUT …and it’s a big “but”…. The part he is leaving out is your independent personal assessment of the price Vs value matrix . In simple terms…. Yeah I guess they are “better” ,,,, but maybe not enough to warrant spending a lot more than lesser budget options.