[Jabba1701]

I recently took a gamble on eBay and bought some Sennheiser CX400 II earphones for AU$22.40.  The box in the picture looked ok and the seller only had on set... what could possibly go wrong?  If it did, well it was only $22.40 what the hell.  Long story short, for the last 2 days I have searched high and low for threads and pictures etc to help me identify if these were fake or legit.  I have finally decided that I haven't the foggiest idea.  I have a set of CX 280 and they sound pretty much the same from what I can tell.  I have taken some photos as best I can and would really appreciate you guys helping me out with your thoughts or comparisons to your own etc.
 
on a side note.  spending all day on this site has gotten me really interested in saving up for a good(ish) set of earphones.  I would love to really hear my music properly with a quality set.  Anyway thanks again guys for the awesome site and you help... here are the pics.
 

 

[mbamg]

Some photos of the packaging would help too.

 

[Jabba1701]

Bugger!  Forgot to take photos of that.  I will when I get home tonight.
 
here is the one from the ebay auction.
 

 

[mbamg]

OK this thread points out that in genuine Sennheiser products the Sennheiser logo usually has that special curve in the 'S' whereas the fakes don't replicate that as well. From the photo on the amazon page I was able to find the Senn logo for reference and compared it to the logo on your IEMs and accessories. You should take a look for yourself.
 
From what I've seen I'm pretty convinced that they're fake, so you should try to get a refund. Also, even at the $25-$40 price points there are a lot of IEMs which offer more bang for the buck than the CX400-IIs.

 

[jaqueh]

if they sound the similar to your cx280 then that means ur on the right track! 

 most the sub $80 cx line share the same drivers, theyre all just tuned ever so slightly differently

 

[Jabba1701]

I had actually come across those threads, but for some reason I had not read the whole lot The strange thing is that the logos do appear to have the curves mentioned and looking at the photos i posted, they are really quite bad quality (I will take more tonight with a different camera and hopefully in more light). the pictures from that thread do look the same as mine as i see them. the double flange tips are shinier than the singles. Also there should still be volume when the slider is at minimum which was mentioned in that thread or another somewhere and mine do that. The pouches look the same. The only thing that really had me questioning them now are the tips. they are thinner than the ones that came with my CX280 phones. that and they were misshapen, but i originally put that down to them being squashed in the packaging. I will try to add a picture of them using my iphone.

re: compairing to my CX280 phones, the CX 400 II are louder than the CX 280 even thought the SPL is lower. but that may be completely irrelevant.

 

[jaqueh]

 
Quote:

I had actually come across those threads, but for some reason I had not read the whole lot The strange thing is that the logos do appear to have the curves mentioned and looking at the photos i posted, they are really quite bad quality (I will take more tonight with a different camera and hopefully in more light). the pictures from that thread do look the same as mine as i see them. the double flange tips are shinier than the singles. Also there should still be volume when the slider is at minimum which was mentioned in that thread or another somewhere and mine do that. The pouches look the same. The only thing that really had me questioning them now are the tips. they are thinner than the ones that came with my CX280 phones. that and they were misshapen, but i originally put that down to them being squashed in the packaging. I will try to add a picture of them using my iphone.
re: compairing to my CX280 phones, the CX 400 II are louder than the CX 280 even thought the SPL is lower. but that may be completely irrelevant.

hmm, that im not too sure about, but sennheiser has stopped producing cx400s since like 2 years ago so whatever u have, if they are in fact real, they could be at least 2 years old already
 

 

[jaqueh]

nvm u have the 400ii's

 

[Jabba1701]

I have attached some more pictures.  Some of the packaging and hopefully some clearer close-up photos of the logo and mesh.  My brain is really starting to hurt here trying to figure it out...
 

 

[mbamg]

I could compare my CX300 to your earpiece pictures when I go home today.

 

[jaqueh]

lol it's not fake........

 

[Jabba1701]

it'd be great to have something to compare them too.

 

[ASilva]

 
Here you go, if you want any specific pictures just ask! I don't know where i've put the original packaging and i can't really show you pictures of the tips or the headphone wrapper thing because i've joined them with the rest i had here
 
I've been using these since 29-09-2009 hence the usage marks. I use them pretty much every single day when i'm at the PC or walking my dog listening to random podcasts. I know for sure these are 100% genuine, bought in retail in an authorised reseller. And i have a pair of fake CX500-IIs I can compare with. The feel of the headphones after a while is completely different (material quality), not to mention the sound quality.

 

[Jabba1701]

thanks for the photos!  From those I am pretty certain they are genuine.  The only thing that I am not 100%  on is the tips.  They are thinner than the ones that came with my CX280s and in the photos I posted of them some are all wonky.  do you remember if yours were like that when you first got them?

 

[ASilva]

It's possible that they arrived like that yes, but I dont remember. I would post photos of them but as i said I don't really know which ones came with the CX400-II because i keep all my tips in the same bag regardless of IEM.
 
I can post pictures of the double flanges though
 

 
They are much thicker and firm when compared to the other normal tips that come with most IEMs. And they are alot more "shiny" aswell