Is there such thing as a fake Sennheiser HD800s?

[cactus_farmer]

I was listening to the latest episode of The Headphone Show live stream and someone asked a question about fake headphones on the market to which Andrew replied something like (I'm paraphrasing here): "oh yeah, I've heard about that - especially the Sennheiser models, like the HD800s..."

But that got me thinking - surely the HD800s is a very difficult headphone to fake? Nothing about it is 'off the shelf' from the ring driver to the unconventional and complex design to the proprietary connectors to the highly distinctive sound signature (people would be suspicious if they received an HD800s that was bass heavy and had no soundstage). So surely it would be quite an undertaking to mass produce something that looks extremely similar to and approximately sounds like an HD800s? Probably too much of an undertaking to bother with?

Has anyone heard of a fake HD800s on the market?

 

[msing539]

I mean, look at this thing:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832802801824.html

People will go to extremes to knock off or copy anything of value to make some money.

 

[cactus_farmer]

Yes, but that thing is essentially a black box with knobs on it. The HD800s looks like a bloody spaceship by comparison and would be much harder and more expensive to obtain the machinery to mass produce as a fake

 

[msing539]

Yes, but that thing is essentially a black box with knobs on it. The HD800s looks like a bloody spaceship by comparison and would be much harder and more expensive to obtain the machinery to mass produce as a fake

But it's mostly plastic--I've seen knock off Grados, Audeze iSine, and even the AirPods Max. I don't think it's as hard to copy the 800S with fake drivers as it might seem.

 

[ArgBoston]

I've seen headphones inspired by the design (Cleer Next), but not a replica. As far as I know the only Sennheiser headphones that have replicas are the HD 598s and the Momentums.

 

[BournePerfect]

HD700s.

 

[DenverW]

They may have meant the iems. There are a ton of knock off sennheiser 800 iems. I had a legit pair in the past and it was quite the exercise to confirm they were good.

 

[dunring]

Just go to wish.com to see what fakes are out there. Literally everything they sell are knockoffs at 90 percent of the legitimate price. I can't believe they have a PayPal and merchant account...

 

[Death_Block]

They may have meant the iems. There are a ton of knock off sennheiser 800 iems. I had a legit pair in the past and it was quite the exercise to confirm they were good.

I was about to say this. Also had a legit pair and even knockoff were bringing back serial number confirmations. I just avoided ebay and only bought them new from reputable dealers

 

[ericx85]

I think I remember years ago that the HD600 or 650s were being copied and you had to look for something specific to be sure you had a legit pair

 

[cactus_farmer]

The construction of the HD800s isn't all plastic. There is some sort of fine metal mesh material between the angular struts of the plastic frame. The proprietary connectors are housed in metal. The headband is a metal strip with alcantara padding.

Would it really be that easy and cheap for a 3rd party manufacturer to create this sort of structure - including a ring diaphragm driver which would need some complex tuning not to sound obviously distorted and sell it for a fraction of the cost of the real HD800s? I would imagine most 'fake' and copycat manufacturers wouldn't be used to tuning ring diaphragm drivers so that would be pretty difficult...

By the time all the RnD is done to make and tune a headphone that looks exactly like the HD800s and also has a wide soundstage (so it's not immediately apparent on first listen that there's something wrong with it) - and you've acquired the machinery to mass produce it - you've probably spent a lot of money yourself anyway... So, would it even be a particularly profitable enterprise?