[jeffrocc]

A buddy of mine picked up some JVC-fx3x 's off of eBay that were marketed as genuine.
As soon as they arrived we compared them to a reputable store bought pair and the difference was apparent. The packaging is so accurate its spooky, the only way you could tell the difference was the uneven card placement. Pictures of the phones themselves reveal a rough aluminum ring in the fakes, versus a shiny, well polished ring on the genuine pair, as shown in pictures. Sorry for poor quality pics but we did not wish to open the packages as they were being returned.

 

[live1]

thanks for this.so basically do not buy fx3x from ebay

 

[jeffrocc]

...ya pays yer munny ya takes yer chances....

 

[Donair]

Fwiw, I just bought a pair of these from a huge (national?) retail electronics chain here in Canada; FutureShop. The first package I took off the wall had a crappy looking aluminum ring finish like in the op's photo above. I took the next package off the wall and I looked perfect so I bought them and told the floor walker about ther first pair.

I'd suspect it's more likely deficiencies at JVC quality control more so than fakes.

My $0.02

 

[jeffrocc]

Actually what that was in fact is this: someone purchased a fake pair off if eBay, realized the boondoggle, bought a good pair from Futureshop then returned the fakes with the receipt. All too easy

 

[Morphed]

I got mine from http://www.amazon.co.uk/JVC-HA-FX3X-Headphone/dp/B005B9CFXK  and aluminium part suggest they are fake, is it possible to get fakes from amazon ? First pair I got had a hole in a cloth filter on one earbud. I got second pair of these and aluminium part looks worse like on picture above. They perform similar to headphones I got together with cheap android phone. They are not bad, but I expected my jaw to drop from extreme bass.

 

[jeffrocc]

I'd be cautious. Pm me a pic if you can, I have had good luck identifying fakes so far. If you have the right size tips in, bass should not be lacking

 

[Morphed]

http://imgur.com/a/YITkP Couple pictures of my earbuds.
Small update, I was listening to them on my old mp3 player and they perform terrible with it. Now I upgraded to sansa clip+ and bass is much better on them, I think it might be even better than on my on ear HA-MR77x attached to Xonar U3 sound card. With better player my other IEMs are left behind by JVC. I found that on the box they say HA-FX3X-J where on offical JVC shop they sell HA-FX3X-E. Also price in the official shop is 50£ where on this forums I can find links to 16£ phones that supposed to be original, why is there such a huge difference in prices on amazon/ebay and JVC shop.

 

[jeffrocc]

This is just my opinion, but zooming in on the aluminum rings show them to be roughly machined with artifacts not polished off, with a dull sheen. The genuine FX3X has a well machined, highly polished aluminum ring around the body of the earbud. This is a strong indication that the earbuds are knock offs, or imitation. I have not had a chance to listen to a fake pair as of yet, however, judging by comments and observations, no one with a genuine pair has any particularly negative experience to talk of, whereas owners of fake FX3X have very differing and mostly bad things to say.

 

[Freyax]

What is the difference between HA-FX3X-J and HA-FX3X-E? Is HA-FX3X-J Fake?

 

[jeffrocc]

I myself have no idea. I haven't bumped into this yet. Hopefully somebody else can figure this one out.

 

[SoJiro]

Well okay, there seem to be different fakes on the market.
 
About a half year ago I bought some FX3X and received FX3X-M.
First I was kind of happy because they have an additional Micro and a play/pause/mute button. But after putting them into my ear I was terrified. I owned genuine FX1X from amazon and I own genuine FX3X from ebay. So I can compare. But there is nothing to compare, everything regarding the fakes is terrible.
I've sent mail to JVC after, they told me that they do not produce any FX3X-M, so these products are definitely fakes.
 
http://i58.tinypic.com/2e67uhg.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/2nhkrqq.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/zsq6a.jpg
 
The genuine FX3X are the best in-ears i've seen (or better heard) so far. The fakes are not even worth the $4 I paid for...
Best regards from Austria

 

[SoJiro]

And about the J and E, it is not an indicator for fakes, JVC told me in that mail that they produce the E versions for Europe and the J versions for U.S.
What I recommend every user of genuine FX3X is installing an equalizer on the mobile phone and bump up the bass Personally I use the Beats Audio Equalizer, sound makes really fun with it. But be careful, I figured out that some mobile phone sound chips (especially the ones in "china phones" except No1 phones) sound really bad, even worse with active EQ, so if you are not sure if your fx3x are genuine or not connect them to your pc, start VLC with the track "Domino Dancing - You Are My Sunshine" [Alternatives: "Showtek ft. Justin Prime - Cannonball (Original Mix)", "Mike Nero - Music Reload 2010" or "Afrojack ft. Eva Simmons - Take Over Control (Mashup)"], go to "Tools" -> "Effects and Filters" -> "Audio Effects" -> "Graphical EQ". Activate it and raise 60 and 170 Hz to +10 and +5. The fakes can not handle it without massive distortion (tested with x-fi titanium pci-e sound card).
Genuine FX1X and FX3X on a good mobile phone sound chip and active EQ (as well as on the pc config above) sound like sitting in a car with big amplifier and subwoofer

 

[Freyax]

Mine looks like the one that you say is fake. So far I am satisfied with the sound. How is the sound from your fakes? I can say that my $4 Earphones is worth it. How come it is fake? Sound quality is just alright.

 

[Vaagin2]

I bought the hafx3x , and when i first listened to them they were a huge dissapointent . Going by the reviews, they have massive bass but mine just throws bass like a below par earphone. My cx 180 has more bass in it . Do the hafx3x initially sound like this? The vocals are ok , but my main concern being bass, they disappoint . Do they require burn in for them to sound right with the bass?