[wes.coleman]

I was looking to see how cheap I could get a pair of CX300's off of eBay, and it returned tons of results under $25! At this price, it would be hard to resist picking up a pair, just for kicks (I have a fairly large hip-hop collection that I think they would suit nicely). Should I be worried about them being knockoffs, or are most of them real Sennheisers?

 

[Jon118]

Ebay is full of knock-offs as far as the CX300s go. I'd be careful and buy from a reputable buyer, even if it does mean paying a bit more.

 

[Duggeh]

Even the real CX300 are awful IMO. Spend that $25 on some real KSC75s.

 

[frozncore]

Most are fakes.

 

[ericj]

$25? The fake ones used to sell for as little as $6! They're geting $25 for fakes now?!

I don't completely share duggeh's opinion of them, but they are, shall we say, unrefined.

 

[Fuzzy OneThree]

Don't buy them there. From personal experience, it would be much smarter to spend $5 more rather than get fakes.

The fakes are really, really bad. My dad bought 2 pairs, since they both seemed suspicious. One of them turned out to fake; the other pair I still use today.

 

[SBD]

You have to consider that the buyers don't know they're fakes obviously.

Any OEM packaged is a fake on ebay and genuine $40 from amazon are still just modestly priced. If anything, the Creative ep-630 is the same thing at $30 msrp so don't judge based on a high price reduction.

 

[ericj]

No, the ep630 is not the same thing. The driver is 1mm smaller than it is in the cx300.

They're all variations on the same fostex design, but we have to stress that they are variations - not the same thing in different boxes.

except the razer ones - those are probably coming out of the same factory as the chinese fakes.

 

[eduj]

anything with no retail packaging is a fake on ebay.

 

[ericj]

And some stuff with retail packaging, too.

 

[vesther]

Actually the Sennheiser CX300 is similar to the Creative EP630.

I would try to stay away from EBay and/or any auction sites as I don't trust any of them. You can try to purchase used Senn CX300's through Amazon.com but I would prefer that you get them new. If you can't spare $80 to get the Senn CX300, try to get the Creative EP630, as that's similar to the Senn CX300 but at half the price.

 

[wes.coleman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif And some stuff with retail packaging, too.

If I were to get them from Amazon.com, in retail packaging....is there any way those could be knockoffs? They're like $40 bucks...still pretty much a bargain.

 

[frozncore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wes.coleman /img/forum/go_quote.gif If I were to get them from Amazon.com, in retail packaging....is there any way those could be knockoffs? They're like $40 bucks...still pretty much a bargain.

Yes. Some fakes are packaged similarly to the originals.

 

[4ki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vesther /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually the Sennheiser CX300 is similar to the Creative EP630. I would try to stay away from EBay and/or any auction sites as I don't trust any of them. You can try to purchase used Senn CX300's through Amazon.com but I would prefer that you get them new. If you can't spare $80 to get the Senn CX300, try to get the Creative EP630, as that's similar to the Senn CX300 but at half the price.

There's way too many mixed reviews to say that, but it's as close as you might get. For what it's worth, the EP630s that I recently sold were from Creative and had some decent qualities...punchy bass, okay on the clarity, but as far as $30 canalphones go, that's about it.

For the sake of built-quality and overall sound I'd just wait, save, and spit out some more money on decent phones like Ultimate ears or Mylarones. Both are under $100 and offer a good range of qualities.

UE super.fi 3's - $50 at radioshack (online and in-store)
MylarOne X3i/Xbi - $70 at jaben shop (online)

Or if you look in this forum's for-sale/trade, you can get either or even the sennheisers for a less-than-premium cost. Even better is that they'll be burned in, and most users here are already cognizant enough to wipe their units down with pure burning alcohol before shipment

 

[wes.coleman]

Ugh, nevermind. The CX300's have the disgusting asymmetrical cables. I'll have to look elsewhere for cheap bass-heavy iem's. I'll check out those EP630's everybody's suggested.