[captian73]

Hi haloxt, I've still yet to hear what you are doing to help people stay away from fakes!

I haven't published my email to bitteach who sold me the fake CX300's. I emailed Lynn Irvin from Sennheiser who has passed my comments on to Debby Darby who handles fakes. I've spoken to Lynn before, but Debbie is always too busy to talk.

Lynn has confirmed the £9.99 CX's from Hong Kong are fake, and as there is no difference at all between the fake from Hong Kong and the pair from Amazon I'm naturally as an somewhat intelligent being assuming that in fact there is no difference.

Fakes on the whole are usually easy to spot ... if you know what to look for. Having dealt with fake CX300, CX400, CX500, the signs are ususally failry standard, but on all fakes, there's always something wrong/different.

The fact that the cables (and jack) were not wrapped in a small plastic bag was the first give away. they were arranged pretty pathetically in the bottom of the box, the same goes for the pair from amazon. This is not the work of a professional company but of a shoddy small timer. when compared with the genuine pair (or pairs when considering the CX300, 400 and 500) this is not right.

there have been issues with the Skew whiff "S" but I don't think that's a definitive tell tell sign.

But the main sign is the ear bud holder. On fakes, they are always uneven, on the genuine pair they're nigh on perfect.

I've been doing this for 18 months as well studying art .

Quote:

fakeheadphones.com was created on: April 05 2008 Domain age (approximately): 1 Years, 6 Months, 23 days..

But I was looking into this problem 9 months before i actually got off my backside and said; Enough!

So, having traduced my name and my site, what are you doing about the problem?

 

[captian73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcpoor /img/forum/go_quote.gif Take into account that these counterfeiters are in china and their main market is china. A luxury model from a japanese brand will be much more popular to the non-audiophile, general populace than a grado or sennheiser that they've never heard of. and the bose just look cheap.

thanks for that. I guess i see it from different point of view. To be honest when i joined head-fi i had .. 5 pairs of headphones?? I'd always considered myself fairly knowledgeable about the audio world but you guys at head-fi have blown my head off and my bank account apart.

You're right AT is not really a well known name brand in the UK. nearly everyday i see some poor person with a pair of Skullcandy's on though! I always think, if you'd given me the money, i would have got you something half decent. AKG K518's for example.

my first pair of what i called 'real' headphones were the Sennheiser PX30's or 40?? laugh all you like, but in Newquay, no one else sold headphones apart from Currys, and they had cheap £20 Technics headphones that kept on breaking. So for me Sennheiser was my first step into the headphone world. Ive have a few more since!

 

[haloxt]

Why are you asking me what I've done in the name of fighting counterfeit headphones? Is that supposed to somehow dissuade me from telling you to revise the way you write your website? Or is it just a random question to derail the topic? What have you done to fight world hunger? Irrelevant for me to answer your question, but since you think it is so amazingly important, I have posted pics of a pro 900 I got from northernsound.net so if anyone tries to buy a discounted pro 900 he can compare it to mine. Can someone tell me I have no right to criticize captian73 now so I can quit this thread?

If you read your article on the CX300, you repeat several times that "you think" that they are fakes, I'm just giving you some advice that you should make your claims on your website exactly how you think them. You obviously don't just "think" they are fakes but think you "know" they are fakes, and if I knew you didn't just "think" but "knew" it I wouldn't have asked you to open to make sure or contact Sennheiser or Amazon. Or maybe since I haven't done enough to fight counterfeit headphones I should just keep my peace and let you claim there are fake pro 900's without picture evidence.

 

[haloxt]

captian73 and I came to an agreement on the pro 900 issue over PM. It was just Ultrasone didn't want him saying some things in public.

But if someone is looking at pro 900's and stumbles upon a sub-$375 one on ebay I'd suggest you get it IF you can get a guarantee of authenticity from the seller. If it turns out to be fake you can complain and ebay will most likely refund your money once you show the email where the seller promised no counterfeit. But please note if for some reason ebay tells you to ship back the counterfeit to get a refund, always get a tracking number as well or ebay will not refund your money then. In pages 3 and 4 of this thread I have posted pictures of all the items you receive with a pro 900 (except the adapter I sold when I sold my cable) and what the internals look like so you can check for signs of counterfeiting. PM me or post here if you have any doubts, and I can always provide more pics and better quality ones if necessary.

 

[Bubo]

The best cure for fakes is if the manufacturers create on-line date bases where you can enter your serial number and date of manufacture from the unit or package in addition to where you purchased them.

Then the manufacturers need to follow up with law suits and jail time for the counterfeiters who are ruining their product names.

Amount paid should be left off as price fixing is illegal in most countries, suggested MSRP not mandated MSRP.

 

[Bubo]

Inspection:

Very tight fit packing job.

Scent free ink packaging and manual.

Licked my finger and rubbed the ink on the box and manual, both were printed not sprayed on with an ink jet.

Workmanship looks good on the product.

Good quality leather head band and workmanship.

Audio performance seems to be excellent right out of the box.

All parts are plastic.

There is a bar code on the box which may be a serial number, maybe just a part number. Serial number may be the one on the inside of the L sling but the number seems very low.

Minimal effort would be to affix a serial number label with manufacturing date to the box, and to the manual inside the box.

Affixing a serial number to the product could be done with a PAD print like they use to put the model numbers on or they could go all out with laser inscribing the left headphone.

The second step would be on line registration by the factory so they could compare to their data base and broadcast bogus numbers like a National Bank.

Seem real to me compared to the reviews on Amazon and C-Net.

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Inspection: Very tight fit packing job. Scent free ink packaging and manual. .....

Trying licking the headphone; if it tastes like dry onion there most definitely fake!

 

[Bubo]

How many flavors do they come in?


Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif Trying licking the headphone; if it tastes like dry onion there most definitely fake!

 

[Markj]

Got PRO900 from buy.com couple days ago $329 shipped. Made in Taiwan. Excellent quality but they look kind of cheap compare to same size Edition9 but more comfortable.

 

[eobet]

I got very worried when I found this thread, because the opening post mentions the exact same site and headphones that I ordered (Ultrasone Pro 900 from iheadphones.co.uk).

However, my order has arrived now and boy, if these are fake they are extremely well made. 100% according to all pictures I've seen posted online of both equipment and packaging.

I think this thread needs to be moderated a bit...

 

[ConGrUenCy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by john53 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hope you got a good one(not fake) Recently,a friend of mine ordered a grado sr325 from ebay,and when he recieved it,one driver was not working.Of course,nobody mentioned it before he buy it. My friend didn't do something about that,he just gave the headphones for repair in a local hi-fi/hi-end shop,but i don't know if they are ok now(i'll give him a call one day to ask...). With all these stories with defective/fake products,i prefer to buy something from local audio stores etc,even if i have to pay 200+euro more than from internet.I think it's better to be a bit patient so you can gather more money to buy something you want and be sure it's ok. If you can't find what you're looking for in your town...i can understand it. Anyway good luck with your k702!

So don't buy from eBay. Buy only from authorised oline dealers like B&H, Amazon, Headroom, etc. They give you a warranty and all too.

 

[alont]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eobet /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got very worried when I found this thread, because the opening post mentions the exact same site and headphones that I ordered (Ultrasone Pro 900 from iheadphones.co.uk). However, my order has arrived now and boy, if these are fake they are extremely well made. 100% according to all pictures I've seen posted online of both equipment and packaging. I think this thread needs to be moderated a bit...

The OP was talking about the Ebay seller in the second link and not the store in the first link - that store was just for price reference.
Did you even bother reading the entire thing?

 

[eobet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alont /img/forum/go_quote.gif The OP was talking about the Ebay seller in the second link and not the store in the first link - that store was just for price reference. Did you even bother reading the entire thing?

I'm not a native english speaker, and yes, not only did I read the entire thing, but I re-read it now as well, and it is still not clear to me that he wasn't implicating that store as well.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanielCox /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know of any audio shop in the UK that sells high/mid end headphone gear. Even a 'standard' audio shop is extremely rare.

Certainly not in Glasgow where the Apple Shop with B&W P5s and Bose QuietComfort 15s are the only £200 plus headphones you can walk in and demo without having to pre-order.

I bought my K702s off ebay for £180 in a lucky bid. The seller made it clear there was no warranty, but I don't bother with any warranties. Considering the work in a K702 and they do not feature at all on fakeheadphones.com I am happy they are legit.

If you want to buy mid to high end headphones you have to buy online with ebay etc or distance selling from the likes of iheadphones.

 

[captian73]

Dealing with Fakeheadphones all the time has made me a tad causcious. Having bought a pair of fakes direct from amazon (and not a third party) put the frighteners up me! At the time of this post, I was hoping that Ultrasone hadn't been the (then) latest victim of the counterfeit market. I wasn't happy with the certain explanations the seller gave me so I took it up with Ultrasone.

Unfortunately, there have been reports of other reputable headphone sites selling fakes. The whole point for me is that people who have bought in good faith know that

1) There are such things as counterfeit headphones

B) They know how to tell if they've been had, in order to get a refund for their hard earned.

I've yet to hear reports of fake high-end AKG's, although there have been a number of queries on head-fi about them. Ultrasone, I don't think are a victim, although that's no excuse for the appalling sound of the Zino's!! Grado, nothing bad to report and of course, smaller manufacturers don't get targeted.

Sennheiser. Bose, Sony, and Audio Technica are the main targets, with the like of Panasonic, Shure and Pioneer each having a counterfeit or two in the market.

As for reputable shops online and offline, the best I can say is; check the site (fakeheadphones) after you've bought your headphones. Reputable stores like iheadphones (from which I've order a few times) will help I’m sure.

The only thing is that when I speak to various companies, I always ask what I can and can't say on my site. I like to drop as many hints to you as I can, but if the truth were told, I’m very nervous about the scale of the problem. I wish I could go into details with you, but the problem is frightening!

All the best, from one headphone enthusiast, to a few hundred other ... headphone enthusiasts.