SolidVictory
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Posts
- 524
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- 30
I can confirm fake IE8s.
I recently purchased genuine IE8s from J&R in New York City for $400. They are amazing.
However, I saw some IE8s on eBay from a person (a person selling them, not a company--and this person had ~300 feedback and 100% feedback). The pictures looked similar to my IE8s, but when I got these (I paid $200 for by the way), they sounded nothing like my genuine IE8s.
The build quality is shockingly similar to the genuine IE8s. I can say this because when I first held them, I thought they were as real as the IE8s I purchased from J&R. Very hard to tell they are fakes unless you have real IE8s by your side for comparison. But the giveaways are:
1) The R/L signs on the real IE8s are angled to fit the contour of the body. The fakes don't have this angled contour, and they are more or less straight "printed" on the body.
2) The fake IE8s have two thicker lines surrounding the S in the Sennheiser logo. The genuine Sennheisers have two very thin lines surrounding the S.
3) The genuine IE8s have this red type of chip or something near the input into the driver (since you can see it through the transparent wiring). The fake IE8s lacked this red chip or whatever it is.
And of course the sound. The bass was muffled, overpronounced. No soundstage whatever. Horrible treble. Basically it sounded like trash.
In addition, the packaging on the genuine IE8s have this pronounced texture on the outside where you can feel the headphones (I forgot what this is called, it's basically like raised so you can "feel" the imprint on the front). The fake IE8 packaging barely has this pronunciation of the texture. Also, the fake IE8 packaging is significantly lighter/faded than the real IE8 packaging.
Do yourself a favor and shell out the retail price for some real IE8s. You will not regret your purchase and won't have to deal with fakes.
I recently purchased genuine IE8s from J&R in New York City for $400. They are amazing.
However, I saw some IE8s on eBay from a person (a person selling them, not a company--and this person had ~300 feedback and 100% feedback). The pictures looked similar to my IE8s, but when I got these (I paid $200 for by the way), they sounded nothing like my genuine IE8s.
The build quality is shockingly similar to the genuine IE8s. I can say this because when I first held them, I thought they were as real as the IE8s I purchased from J&R. Very hard to tell they are fakes unless you have real IE8s by your side for comparison. But the giveaways are:
1) The R/L signs on the real IE8s are angled to fit the contour of the body. The fakes don't have this angled contour, and they are more or less straight "printed" on the body.
2) The fake IE8s have two thicker lines surrounding the S in the Sennheiser logo. The genuine Sennheisers have two very thin lines surrounding the S.
3) The genuine IE8s have this red type of chip or something near the input into the driver (since you can see it through the transparent wiring). The fake IE8s lacked this red chip or whatever it is.
And of course the sound. The bass was muffled, overpronounced. No soundstage whatever. Horrible treble. Basically it sounded like trash.
In addition, the packaging on the genuine IE8s have this pronounced texture on the outside where you can feel the headphones (I forgot what this is called, it's basically like raised so you can "feel" the imprint on the front). The fake IE8 packaging barely has this pronunciation of the texture. Also, the fake IE8 packaging is significantly lighter/faded than the real IE8 packaging.
Do yourself a favor and shell out the retail price for some real IE8s. You will not regret your purchase and won't have to deal with fakes.
