[VinceHill24]

My thoughts would be in line with kova4a. I think fake is not so likely but as mentioned by Clear few post back, that was a statement by Magaosi and Magaosi being a brand itself we have to view of it as a separate entity to Hilisening which is the company / factory - a professional ODM & OEM with complete manufacturing capabilities and R&D. It's not hard to figure out for an established factory with the ODM & OEM capabilities, they're not gonna just manufacture for their own Magaosi brand only which isn't even selling that much worldwide (they're well-known in this thread but not really to the point where even just the whole of head-fi will know). It's just not cost effective to do so if they're just running a minimum production so it's very likely some of those third party distributors or sellers could've ordered or request ODM / OEM from Hilisening and they could've tweak the specs accordingly based on the client needs. It's a very common backscene in China so i'm not surprised if some of those 3rd party distributors decided to make changes in the configuration, colour, etc. and market it under their own brand name. Of course problem occurs when they decided to use it with Magaosi name and Magaosi being a rather established brand nowadays surely will prioritised their brand reputation by doing what needs to be done i.e. warning people of fakes from 3rd party distributors.

Now that's just my opinion about it. We cannot yet confirm if the brown ones = fakes. In fact my own pair comes wihout the Magaosi logo engraved yet sounding exactly just like what the early buyers have described. So, i'm pretty sure there's no fakes around just probably poor QC / 3rd party distributor decided to make some tweaks without informing Magaosi yet using under Magaosi brand name.

Of course the worst case scenario would be Hilisening didn't manufacture the important components like the Anodised alloy shell themself and instead sought from other OEM & that OEM eventually leak it to others due to overproduction / simply just wanna profit. It's all just business. Chinese business.

Above are just my opinions & point of views, you may agree or disagree but my pair without Magaosi logos & even retail packaging sounds great unlike what some recent comments about it sounding like 20$ bad.

 

[mymail0808]

Here in HK, the latest price is HKD590, 76USD!! 

 

[Slater]

  So friends, what is the return policy? If some of you got fake units is it possible to claim a full refund? You opened the boxes, used some time what will happen now?

 
I'd think we 1st need to figure out a reliable way to determine HOW to spot the fakes.
 
Until then, someone could mistakingly return a genuine one (potentially harming the reputation of an otherwise legitimate seller), or they could keep a fake turd thinking it's genuine (potentially harming the reputation of the genuine K3 due to reviews of poor sound).
 
Once we figure out how to spot the fakes, returns should be easy to handle, as most sources (ebay, Amazon, aliexpress) have return policies that cover counterfeit goods.

 

[Slater]

My thoughts would be in line with @kova4a. I think fake is not so likely but as mentioned by Clear few post back, that was a statement by Magaosi and Magaosi being a brand itself we have to view of it as a separate entity to Hilisening which is the company / factory - a professional ODM & OEM with complete manufacturing capabilities and R&D. It's not hard to figure out for an established factory with the ODM & OEM capabilities, they're not gonna just manufacture for their own Magaosi brand only which isn't even selling that much worldwide (they're well-known in this thread but not really to the point where even just the whole of head-fi will know). It's just not cost effective to do so if they're just running a minimum production so it's very likely some of those third party distributors or sellers could've ordered or request ODM / OEM from Hilisening and they could've tweak the specs accordingly based on the client needs. It's a very common backscene in China so i'm not surprised if some of those 3rd party distributors decided to make changes in the configuration, colour, etc. and market it under their own brand name. Of course problem occurs when they decided to use it with Magaosi name and Magaosi being a rather established brand nowadays surely will prioritised their brand reputation by doing what needs to be done i.e. warning people of fakes from 3rd party distributors.

Now that's just my opinion about it. We cannot yet confirm if the brown ones = fakes. In fact my own pair comes wihout the Magaosi logo engraved yet sounding exactly just like what the early buyers have described. So, i'm pretty sure there's no fakes around just probably poor QC / 3rd party distributor decided to make some tweaks without informing Magaosi yet using under Magaosi brand name.

Of course the worst case scenario would be Hilisening didn't manufacture the important components like the Anodised alloy shell themself and instead sought from other OEM & that OEM eventually leak it to others due to overproduction / simply just wanna profit. It's all just business. Chinese business.

Above are just my opinions & point of views, you may agree or disagree but my pair without Magaosi logos & even retail packaging sounds great unlike what some recent comments about it sounding like 20$ bad.

 
Magaosi DID say they made no brown ones. I assume they would know if they made brown ones, wouldn't they? So if someone's holding a brown K4 that also says Magaosi all over it, then according to Magaosi that's not a genuine Magaosi K3. Seems like a pretty simple concept to me.
 
BTW, where and how did you get a totally blank one with NO logo whatsoever? You mind posting some photos?
 
Did yours come with filters? What about the black carry case (did you get one)?
 
What's your cable look like?

 

[chaturanga]

   
I'd think we 1st need to figure out a reliable way to determine HOW to spot the fakes.
 
Until then, someone could mistakingly return a genuine one (potentially harming the reputation of an otherwise legitimate seller), or they could keep a fake turd thinking it's genuine (potentially harming the reputation of the genuine K3 due to reviews of poor sound).
 
Once we figure out how to spot the fakes, returns should be easy to handle, as most sources (ebay, Amazon, aliexpress) have return policies that cover counterfeit goods.

 
From above comments, I don't see a logical way to decide which one is fake and which is not. We are just talking about "color". If someone paints it with exact color (and also makes exact same box to original one, and puts exact same cables of original packaging), so will that make the unit original? 
 
I don't want to listen my pair by thinking if it was legit or not, because I will not have a chance to listen the so called original and compare it to mine. That is strange.
 
Magaosi or Hilisening they have to announce by coming here, they must announce sellers who are selling their original packages, such way we can avoid harming reputation of legit sellers. Until that I will be suspicious about all units sold on Aliexpress. 
 
I did not get mine yet, but I think I will return it back immediately after all those confusion appeared. 

 

[chaturanga]

My point is that, we are trying to convince each other and ourselves for that we have legit units. But I think Magaosi should take this serious and they must convince us about their products. 

 

[VinceHill24]

Magaosi DID say they made no brown ones. I assume they would know if they made brown ones, wouldn't they? So if someone's holding a brown K4 that also says Magaosi all over it, then according to Magaosi that's not a genuine Magaosi K3. Seems like a pretty simple concept to me.

BTW, where and how did you get a totally blank one with NO logo whatsoever? You mind posting a photo?

Did yours come with filters?

What's your cable look like?

I'll put some photos later when i'm home from work. Mine came with 2 filters but just 1 pair of cable. The cable is like the silver ones without mic with L-shaped plug.

Try to view Magaosi & Hilisening as a different entity and you'll probably understand. Chinese don't do business like the West and many brands from China does not have own manufacturing facility. They either design & ask factory make it or they seek for ODM like Hilisening.

 

[Slater]

   
From above comments, I don't see a logical way to decide which one is fake and which is not. We are just talking about "color". If someone paints it with exact color (and also makes exact same box to original one, and puts exact same cables of original packaging), so will that make the unit original? 
 
I don't want to listen my pair by thinking if it was legit or not, because I will not have a chance to listen the so called original and compare it to mine. That is strange.
 
Magaosi or Hilisening they have to announce by coming here, they must announce sellers who are selling their original packages, such way we can avoid harming reputation of legit sellers. Until that I will be suspicious about all units sold on Aliexpress. 
 
I did not get mine yet, but I think I will return it back immediately after all those confusion appeared. 

 
That's exactly what we're all trying to figure out. All the details haven't been determined yet. By posting photos of the packaging, accessories, and product, the hope is that we can collectively see if we can figure out how to spot the fakes from the genuine article.
 
It's no different than how people figured out how to spot any of the hundreds/thousands of real vs fake products that have been dumped on consumers over the years.

 

[Slater]

  My point is that, we are trying to convince each other and ourselves for that we have legit units. But I think Magaosi should take this serious and they must convince us about their products. 

 
Yes, I think Magaosi needs to step up and nip this in the bud.
 
I mean, THEY changed the packaging and the included accessories. THEY have detailed photos of the differences. Did they produce the grey cardboard insert with the red logo or not (for example)?
 
They should be able to easily give owners the proper ways to identify genuine products, and it's in their best interest to do so.
 
I know if I was in the market for an IEM right now, I would stay a mile away form the K3 at the current moment until all this pans out (unless I ordered direct from their Taobao store). By them nipping it in the bud, they are helping themselves and their official dealers above all else.

 

[chaturanga]

  Here is the MaGaosi K3 facebook page, welcome for your comments.
 
https://www.facebook.com/MaGaosiHK/
 
We are looking for retailer/distributor in Korea, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, India and other countries.

If you want to be a Retailer/Distributor in your region, please let me know. Thanks.

 
Is @erikism a Magaosi employee? I guess so because above he was looking for distributors for Magaosi. If so, I think it's the time for @erikism to clear things here, and tell us which sellers selling their original products. If he can tell us at least people who bought from those sellers will feel good and will not question it. Such way we can limit our target sellers to decide if theirs were legit or not. 

 

[Lurk650]

FYI Penon is selling them for $110 now and they have legit gear. If there was an issue I know they will take care of it. I've only ever ordered a cable from them but their responses on FB posts give me comfort.

 

[dontcallmejan]

Since I got the silver version, I want to share my packaging for reference. Got to L plug cables though, got them last march.

 

[nealh]

FYI Penon is selling them for $110 now and they have legit gear. If there was an issue I know they will take care of it. I've only ever ordered a cable from them but their responses on FB posts give me comfort.

Penon Audio
In my case with three orders, two IEMs(LZ-A4 and K3Pro) and BT cable they have been fantastic and her communication and processing. I've not had a return anything but I believe it will stand behind what they sell.
Currently, it's the only way I will purchase outside the United States given my experience and what I see others expressing. I don't like having doubts and I feel like The products from Penon Audio are genuine

Fwiw I make the purchase through their standalone web store not aliexpress

 

[drwlf]

 
Interesting?
 
Edit: more pics, cba to describe
 

 

 

 

 

[chaturanga]

 
 
Interesting?

 
So you have R after Magaosi name, that R makes it legit lol Where did you buy from? Banned store or other?