the first IE8s I received was from someone selling on ebay who provided a receipt from some authorized dealer who sells them in Germany. When receiving the IE8s, the right ride showed some signs of wear, and the overall build quality was not as top notch as the second pair I received, which I bought from a head-fi member who knew it was 100% authentic. Some of the differences:
- The clearest and most noticeable difference between the first pair(fakes) and the second pair is the sound tube. On the first pair, there was a noticeable line on both sides of the sound tube... as if it was made with two parts. This second pair I have has a sound tube that looks immaculately crafted, with no noticeable lines, everything looks smooth and well-built.
- The box. The second pair I received had a solid feel to it and the part that says "open here" is a lot better put together than the probable fakes. The "open here" part of the box ripped easily with the probable fakes. Also, the image of the IE8s popping out have a more sticky feel to it with the authentics... it could just be me.
- The cable is darker and softer yet have a sticky feel, while the fakes were light colored and were smooth. This is definite. The cable material was actually what made me believe that the first pair I had might have been fake. There's a certain stickiness to this pair. If your pair of IE8s has a smooth cable with no sticky feel to it, they could be fake.
- The sound. The highs are recessed in the probable fakes, and smooth and more present in my second pair. The fakes had a bass that veiled the highs, while this pair has more of a balance.
- The head-fi member sent me a larger cable clip... which could either be a newer cable clip from Sennheiser, or just a cable clip that came with a different pair of Sennheiser headphones that the head-fi member sent me. The cable clip with the first pair was the normal cable clip that come with most sennheiser IEMs...
All of the accessories came with both boxes, and its scary to see how close the first pair was to the second. I am 90% sure the first pair I had were fakes. I hated the IE8s back then and wanted to get rid of them.. the build quality was worse than the IE8s I own now in terms of cable, sound tube, and sound, which are the clear giveaways for me. I'm glad I received a pair I know for sure is authentic.
One more thing I need to clarify is that most of the comparisons on the fake IE8 page aren't clear giveaways. The red wire chip difference is complete bogus. The first pair I had had the red wire and made me truly believe I had genuine IE8s, but they sounded like crap. Also, I don't quite see the differences in the storage box, nor were there differences I noticed with the R and L on both IE8s. For me, the difference was in the cable, the edges on the sound tube, and most importantly, the sound.