[TastyBeanSprout]

I feel like i have a responsibility to post this:

About a month ago i purchased a pair of AKG 450s from ebay (for the much talked about price of 75). A number of Head-fi'ers had made these purchases and were satisfied with their "genuine" phones.

Based on these testimonials, i went ahead and took the gamble. I received the package a week later. The outer box, as well as the inner packaging, looked good enough not to warrant any suspicions.

The only evidence of "fakeness" that i was was in the actual phones themselves. Upon opening the headphones (they fold to fit into a small case), i noticed that it just didn't feel smooth. I was expecting something more 'heavy feeling' from an AKG product. This was enough for me to suspect that these may be fakes. I emailed the ebay seller asking for my money back (well, more accurately, i threatened to tarnish his perfect feedback unless i got my money back). But, at this point, it was just a hunch.

At the same time i was finalizing a return of these phones, i saw a pair of them for sale on head-fi. I went ahead and purchased them. Because i was so curious to whether the ebay pair were genuine, i waited to send them back to the seller until i received the head-fi pair (which were purchased through amazon).

The first difference was quite obvious. The genuine head-fi pair locked as the headphones were opened. The locking joint is similar to the px100, exhibiting a sort of "push" when it nears complete opening. Like i said before, the ebay pair seemed to have no such joint (although they appeared exactly the same). Secondly, the genuine pair had a smoother quality to the plastic work. The ebay pair had some rougher edges around the R & L letters on the headphone, as well as in the internal ridged pieces for extending and shortening the sides. This may seem trivial, but it was definitely apparent upon close inspection. Thirdly, the pads on the ebay pair seemed to be more imperfect than the head-fi pair. Although these pads can never be perfect (they will always be somewhat oblong or misshapen), the ebay pads were significantly more imperfect. Fourthly, i seemed to see some spacing between the different pieces on the headband (these pieces are different sections of the headband that are glued together) that were not evident on the genuine pair. Finally, it just seemed like the ebay pair were significantly lighter or "flimsy" feeling. I would almost guarantee that the genuine pair actually weigh more than the fakes.

Ok, so there it is. Im sorry for the longwindedness, as well as the rushed grammar. Some of you may feel like i'm being picky or making up some of these differences. Please, believe me. These differences are really apparent when you have both in hand.

So, briefly, fakes may:
1)fail to have locking joints upon opening the headphones
2)exhibit a rougher mold in plastic impressions
3)have somewhat imperfect pad shape (although they are still high quality)
4)show spacing in the upper areas of the headband between the pieces
5)fail to be as heavily built as genuine phones

Sorry I cant post any pictures (I had to send the other pair back before i could take any).

Ending with a music recommendation:

Pete Rock & CL Smooth: T.R.O.Y. , the hip hop song that all 'rap-haters' should check out

 

[freakydrew]

sorry for your luck, hopefully you got your money back.

how was the sound difference?

It makes me wonder if real headphones are way overpriced if there is financial gain in going to all the trouble to replicate a pair to sell them as fakes...why not just make headphones to sell?

 

[KCChiefsfan]

Shouldn't you leave the seller bad feedback anyway, since they are selling fake products?

It's frightening that they could make a counterfeit product that could so easily be mistaken for the real thing. This is generally why I decide to spend the extra money and buy from Amazon or somewhere similar, even though the deals out there are so tempting.

Good luck in getting your money back.

 

[david1978jp]

Sorry to hear that. Here are rumors I heard, rumors, they are rumors. There are more than one makes: cheaper feel one was made for China market, it should stay in China market; however, they use the same drive - if they sounded the same, the rumor "possibly" be true (don't quote me, I am guessing here). The "high copy" ones feel quite like real one (even the color), the pad was not the same; do they use the same drive? I don't know.

 

[Captfantastic]

Heya Tasty,
 
Just wanted to give you a quick thanks for your detailed post.  I found a person selling a 5 month old pair of AKG K450s and I was able to examine them carefully and know that I was looking at the real things.  Turned out he was an Austrian!  He was studying music (to be a Jazz drummer) at the LA Music Academy in Pasadena, CA.
 
I bought the AKGs and I am loving them.  I wanted a relatively inexpensive portable set with extremely good sound.  That's exactly what I got!
 
Good listening and thanks again!
 
Capt

 

[shnitz]

Why didn't you compare sound quality at all?  I bought my K450s through Dell, and when they arrived I was at first surprised at how flimsy they felt.  However, this was my own pre-conceived bias, as I have treated them roughly and realized that they are robust.  The most telling thing for me?  They sound amazing.  I'm not so sure you had fakes.  You were probably psyching yourself out.  So, thanks for the heads up, but without testing the headphones as headphones and not just as designer accesories, I'm going to have to take your warning as with a grain of salt.  I'm fairly certain that there aren't fake AKG K450s on the market.  Did you get all of the accesories?  A carrying case with a molding to fit the K450 perfectly.  This case has 2 net pockets on the other side, to hold a 1/4 --> 1/8 adapter, a 2.5mm to 3.5mm short cable, etc.  If you got all of those, then you probably had real K450s.  Again, when I got mine I was initially skeptical about the flimsy little wires, plastic folding, etc. as well as you, and mine are 100% real.  Even if it was possible for an authorized vendor to get a shipment of fakes, sound-wise there is no doubt what I'm holding.  These headphones, like the AKG K701, are too hard/time consuming/work intensive to fake, so you don't have to worry.  These headphones aren't popular enough, scammers aren't going to get the return on this product as much as they would with the current fakes out there.  The only fake AKG right now are the earphones, not headphones.  Something like the Sony MDR-V700, however, now that's something to watch out for, because that is a product that the mass market will go for, not just audiophiles.
 
Freakydrew: The reason that fakes are commercially viable is because like the OP, you are focusing on the wrong aspects of the headphones.  It isn't the little R and L indicators that the big names are putting their research into.  It's what's inside the earcup that costs so much money.  Otherwise, Skullcandy, with all of their stupid designs all over their headphones, would be accepted as the best headphones around.  Unfortunately for them, headphones are rated by sound quality, so they're last.  Fake headphones, similarly, may have the looks, but if you don't put the research and the manufacturing effort into the drivers and the wiring, then you're going to have horrible headphones.  Scamming means that you piggyback off of the success of others by cheating people, instead of having to have a research department, make original ideas, have a customer service department, dealer network, etc.  You just make something that is initially believable as a solid product, and wait for the unlucky consumer.

 

[shnitz]

Also, I noticed all of the K450 on ebay, and I think that people are jumping straight to the K81/K518.  People aren't embracing the K450, or the on-ear phones as much as AKG's other offerings, so people are getting better deals on these wholesale to resell on ebay.  Part of this is AKG's fault, they marketed the K450 with the removable cable so that you could attach a Bluetooth adapter, but then dropped the project, leaving us with a detachable cable for no reason.