[Rob80b]

again not obvious to the naked eye.

 

[Jd007]

Does anyone have experience with IE800s purchased from sellers fulfilled by Amazon? Ordered a pair from this company/seller called "headphoneshop", the order is fulfilled by Amazon and here's a link to the product page: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE-800-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B00A34TU7W/. Not sure if this could be fake/clone, and at US$750 it is basically the MSRP. I asked the seller by email and they told me that they are a Sennheiser authorized dealer in Japan. Haven't received them yet but hopefully they are genuine.

 

[Rob80b]

  Does anyone have experience with IE800s purchased from sellers fulfilled by Amazon? Ordered a pair from this company/seller called "headphoneshop", the order is fulfilled by Amazon and here's a link to the product page: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE-800-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B00A34TU7W/. Not sure if this could be fake/clone, and at US$750 it is basically the MSRP. I asked the seller by email and they told me that they are a Sennheiser authorized dealer in Japan. Haven't received them yet but hopefully they are genuine.

The fact that it is fulfilled by Amazon you should be fine but the need to be cautious is bothering, it's one thing to know you are buying a copy lets say from aliexpress for $40  and I do see the same item going for $300 - $400 on ebay : ( ....we like to think amazon is a safe haven from scams but unfortunately it's not but one does normally have 30 days to return the purchase and they are very accommodating with excellent customer service. Anyway you'll find out soon enough.

 

[Jd007]

 

  Does anyone have experience with IE800s purchased from sellers fulfilled by Amazon? Ordered a pair from this company/seller called "headphoneshop", the order is fulfilled by Amazon and here's a link to the product page: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE-800-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B00A34TU7W/. Not sure if this could be fake/clone, and at US$750 it is basically the MSRP. I asked the seller by email and they told me that they are a Sennheiser authorized dealer in Japan. Haven't received them yet but hopefully they are genuine.

The fact that it is fulfilled by Amazon you should be fine but the need to be cautious is bothering, it's one thing to know you are buying a copy lets say from aliexpress for $40  and I do see the same item going for $300 - $400 on ebay : ( ....we like to think amazon is a safe haven from scams but unfortunately it's not but one does normally have 30 days to return the purchase and they are very accommodating with excellent customer service. Anyway you'll find out soon enough.

I received them today, and checked for all the signs of fake/clone listed in this thread. heres what i found with mine (could also be a checklist for others)

1. online qr code check says authentic, and no warning about this code being checked many times
2. box had two circular clear plastic tape seals, no shrink wrap
3. leather carrying case stitching and leather matches the authentic photos, serial number is not the common 26xxx fake one
4. senn logo on the buds themselves are sharp and have the fine texture on the engraved sections, like on the authentic photos
5. senn logos elsewhere appear to be high quality and without defects/weird shapes, direction of the logos all match the official one ("S")
6. grills on both the tips and buds appear to be fine, new, undamaged
7. on the buds, where the tip connects to the housing, the edges of the housing is clean and straight
8. dimples on the Y connector and 3.5mm connector are small and precise, like on the authentic photos
9. when the Y connector is plugged in, there is a small gap between the plastic and the gold metal connector inside can be seen (on some fakes there is no gap or less gap to see the gold metal connector i think)
10. various plastic pieces (on the cable and cleaning tool) do not have stubs/imperfections sticking out
11. the cable appears new and not worn out from inside
12. manual printing appears to be high quality and crisp (though this one was kinda hard to tell from the photos)

so i think i have an authentic pair. though i have emailed sennheiser support to see if i can official confirm it even further (with serial number or something)

 

[Rob80b]

  I received them today, and checked for all the signs of fake/clone listed in this thread. ......
 

Sounds like you're good to go...enjoy!

 

[thefitz]

Hello everybody,
 
I'm in the middle of an unpleasant issue involving fake IE800s, but it seems like all the relevant parties are cooperating with refunds so hopefully everyone ends up happy.
 
I used to own a set of IE800s that I sold to a friend. I missed that sound, so I bought a new set - and they turned out to be conclusively fake. I went to my friend's place and took photographs side by side. Hopefully these will be helpful.
 
Maybe there are several runs of fakes, so these might not apply to all fakes. 
 
First off, THE REAL ONES ARE ABOUT 43" LONG, WHILE THE FAKES ARE ABOUT 47" LONG. That should be a dead giveaway, but perhaps new runs of fakes eventually "corrected" this.
 
The real one is to the left, the fake to the right. The real one has textured, matte leather that's more of a dark grey. The fake has shiny black garment leather that actually has quite a leather smell. The stitching on the real one is dark grey, and on the fake one it's white. Notice the logos are stamped in entirely different locations.
 


 
 
The engraved plaques look alarmingly similar - the engraving is good and the etching of the serial definitely looks the part. The fake is at the bottom and the real one is at the top. These pictures also help illustrate the difference in leathers.


 
I'll continue this in another post just in case my browser crashes.

 

[thefitz]

The back of the ear tip holder easily shows which one is real (right) and which one is fake (left). Notice the sloppy plastic work.

 
The tips themselves are also easy to spot - fake tips (bottom) have a rather large ring of rubber around the grille. The plastic work around the "L" and "S" markers is also rough. This fake set didn't even have two large oval tips! The real ones (top) have better plastic work and smaller rings of rubber around the grille.

 
The housings themselves look quite similar, in fact. The fake ones (left) have a bit of a green tint to it and seem to have smoother edges and shallower engraving, but it's tough to spot. The real ones (right) have dark, sharp, deeper engravings.

 
The cable is pretty easy to detect. The fake (bottom) a fair bit greener, and often contains inconsistently spaced braiding. The real one (top) is much more grey and has consistent braiding.

 
Just a few more pictures that I'll share in another post.

 

[thefitz]

At the clasp, you can see the fake's (bottom) indent is a lot more square than the real one's (top), and the Sennheiser logo has similar attributes to what was found on the driver housing; the fake (bottom) is a lot smoother and greener, while the real one (top) is crisp and dark. Overall shoddy plastic work on the fake (bottom). The real one (top) has a section of the gold jack visible, giving it the look of a gold ring, while the fake (bottom) seems to be flush with the other side.


 
At the jack end, you observe the same patterns - sloppy plastic work on the fake (right), pristine plastic work on the real one (left). Heck, the fake's logo is backwards at the jack end! You'll also observe the same square, rounded indentation on the fake (right), with a crisp, oval indentation on the real one (left).


 
And finally, the grille also reveals a distinct difference. The real grille (right) has beveled edges as it sinks into the housing, and a deeper, less dense grille. The fake (left) has a dense, flat grille with absolutely no beveling around the edges. Perhaps this is the biggest giveaway.

 
The other obvious difference is the damn sound! The fake ones had a GIANT bass signature (giant!), and a hard, gritty wisp of treble. It was like those old 2.1 sound systems of yore with a loud, cloudy subwoofer and tinny 3" drivers. It was also much easier to drive than the real ones. Of course, it's hard to tell through pictures
 
Hopefully, this is evidence enough to help people spot fakes from a mile away. Again, there's a chance that new runs of fake IE800s would correct for these discrepancies, but I doubt they'll ever fix the shoddy plastic work. And, as a habit, NEVER buy them without the original packaging. Packaging doesn't guarantee it's real, but it's another layer of verification.

 

[Vesperaudio]

Thanx for your photos.
 

Maybe there are several runs of fakes, so these might not apply to all fakes. 

Yes, unfortunately there are.

 

[thefitz]

I have also noticed that real ones will wrap around the case counterclockwise (to the right) and have the plug easily meet one of the holes at the side. Fakes, which are a different length, require to be wrapped clockwise, to the left.

 

[Rob80b]

  Hello everybody,
 
............................  
The real one is to the left, the fake to the right.
 

Hey thefitz...thanks for sharing...your observations are more or less parallel to mine.....
Sound wise..my copies sounded pretty good...better than my Momentum in-ear and much better than Apple's, but now owning an authentic pair the differences are fairly obvious, there's a quality/sophistication to the sound that the copies do not have especially with quality recordings.
 Wonder if the reversed S was done on purpose, but it's only done on one side????  (the two shown are both copies)

 

[thefitz]

Interesting...

 

[tomwoo]

  I received them today, and checked for all the signs of fake/clone listed in this thread. heres what i found with mine (could also be a checklist for others)

1. online qr code check says authentic, and no warning about this code being checked many times
2. box had two circular clear plastic tape seals, no shrink wrap
3. leather carrying case stitching and leather matches the authentic photos, serial number is not the common 26xxx fake one
4. senn logo on the buds themselves are sharp and have the fine texture on the engraved sections, like on the authentic photos
5. senn logos elsewhere appear to be high quality and without defects/weird shapes, direction of the logos all match the official one ("S")
6. grills on both the tips and buds appear to be fine, new, undamaged
7. on the buds, where the tip connects to the housing, the edges of the housing is clean and straight
8. dimples on the Y connector and 3.5mm connector are small and precise, like on the authentic photos
9. when the Y connector is plugged in, there is a small gap between the plastic and the gold metal connector inside can be seen (on some fakes there is no gap or less gap to see the gold metal connector i think)
10. various plastic pieces (on the cable and cleaning tool) do not have stubs/imperfections sticking out
11. the cable appears new and not worn out from inside
12. manual printing appears to be high quality and crisp (though this one was kinda hard to tell from the photos)

so i think i have an authentic pair. though i have emailed sennheiser support to see if i can official confirm it even further (with serial number or something)

Thanks for the comprehensive checklist.
I'm looking at the same product on Amazon. "Fulfilled by Amazon" doesn't necessarily mean they are genuine product as I saw a lot of reviews about fake Jaybird X2 from sellers fulfilled by 
Amazon. (I was advised by a Jaybird rep to buy from Amazon directly). Similarly, Amazon is an authorized reseller of Sennheiser which can be found on Sennheiser's website. I couldn't find headphoneshop on that list, which means at least it's not a Sennheiser authorized reseller in U.S. Even though the product you bought seems to be legit, I still have a hard time deciding whether to spend extra $100 to get IE800 (and a peace of mind) directly from Amazon  or  trust headphoneshop with my wallet like you did.

 

[ninjasquirrel]

Honestly getting these off the classifieds is still the best choice atm, they are going for like half price (or were), and I got my pair for like 350. really solid stuff.

 

[Rob80b]

If you’re not buying new direct from Sennheiser classifieds work if they’re local, ebay looks like 95% or more are still fakes and I feel sorry for the buyers, Amazon has a great return policy which unfortunately could work both ways but probably your best bet if you’re looking to save (warehouse deals) or from here on head-fi if accompanied with lots of pics.