[conditionals]

Hah, this thread is only causing intense paranoia. For example, I was perfectly happy with my Xmas gift of IE8s (my 20 zillionth pair of Sennheisers, but my first in-ears), but now I'm all "OMG the barcode on the box starts before the R, they're FAKE."
 
Bah.

 

[bonniefufw2]

/img/forum/go_quote.gif

I wonder if it is possible for an 'authorised dealer' to stock fake IE8's?

I'm not sure how exactly the authorised dealers are supplied so I'm wondering whether their suppliers have to be acknoweldged by Sennheiser themselves as a genuine supplier or if these authorized shop dealers just go ahead and pick any supplier.

If the latter is the case, couldn't it be possible that an authorised dealer chooses a fake supplier and then mistakenly sells fake products from their authorised dealership?

I wonder if anyone here can shed some light on this.

-edit-

Oh and thanks for posting this comparison SolidVictory

It's comprehensive, Thanks for your instruction! I understand this part.

 

[Butter123]

I just got my IE8 from dakmart so far everything seems to be real with ofc the sound being the key point. 

 

[fuzzy1969]

I got a pair with the galvanised finished box pretty sure their fakes but i reckon whoever makes them have cloned the dynamic drivers they do genuinely sound very good. I know this because i had a mad moment and got some triple.fi's as well and they do compare with the cloned ie8's sound more way more bassy they also changed with burn in. I read this thread once in a while and dig them out just to see how they sound and for 40 quid i thought i'd keep them for backup as i prefer the sound of the triple.fi's. Got them on now and they do sound good comparable to the triple.fi's just more bassy. I also read a thread somewhere where someone opened up some newer fakes and indeed it looked like the drivers have been copied. It seems it lots easier to copy dynamic drivers than 3 armature drivers.

 

[Tolblo]

I just sent back a fake pair, the sound was dreadful, like someone throwing up in my ear. Most notable difference was no red chip wire, other differences we're really hard to see but we're there. Thanks a lot for this thread!

 

[quixoticelixer]

I received a fake pair from eBay before Xmas. Contacted the seller before buying asking if it was genuine and he replied that they was, and would accept returns if wasn't happy.
 
When I received it everything looked genuine, except the sound was horrible, way too much treble, sounded very tinny. As for the build quality, everything seemed perfect, thin lines around the S on the earphones, the storage case seemed legit as well. All the signs of it being genuine was there except the red chip/wire in the Right ear. Very difficult to tell whether genuine or not unless compared with genuine IE8s, side by side.
 
Ordered a pair from amp3.co.uk instead, and filed a dispute with the seller on eBay. Paid over £100 for the fakes as well.

 

[lee730]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dj TechnoWinstrol /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about the serial numbers? Theres any way to determine if they are original or fake using the Serial numbers? Maybe sending it to senhheiser or trying to register the product on the web page, the registration format asks for it. Did you tried that?

I'm not too sure about serial numbers. Since I've never had to send my IE8s or other IEMs for serial confirmation, I don't think they are really used to determine authenticity. Because when you think about it, a box can be genuine, but the IEMs can be fake inside of the box.

I did not try to confirm anything with serial numbers with the fake IE8s, since I pretty much knew they were fake after the extensive comparison. I would say to lean more on an authorized dealer + sound of the IEM instead of serial numbers.
 
The serial number can be used to determine authenticity of the Sennheiser IE8's as I recently did that to put my mind at ease that these were real and got them registered and covered for 2 years. Then again if they weren't real I would still love them as they sound amazing, lol but they are real so that not the case. From what I found out you don't necessarily have to buy the sennheisers from an authorized dealer to get warranty support as long as they are legit Sennheiser products they will honor the warranty. They are doing so for me. I bought mine from an eBay seller who is not an authorized dealer, but he did acquire them from an authorized dealer. As long as the products are legit the manufacturer has no business in denying you warranty coverage as that is illegal. All that is needed is proof of purchase. The biggest cause for buying from an authorized dealer is that it will pretty much guarantee you a genuine pair of headphones while at the same time maximizing the price you will have to pay for the IEM's. I paid $265 dollars for mine and that is a good deal compared to $400.00 which is full price for these headphones. I would not pay $400.00 for the headphones although I do think they are worth it. I'm a bargain shopper. What you cannot do is expect the IEM manufacturers to be responsible for fake IEM's that are purchased through a non authorized dealer. That is why I purchase through amazon or ebay as they will protect you with a money back guarantee. Otherwise you're pretty much screwed depending on the sellers return policy.

 

[Tsuioku]

Anybody get any fakes from UK sellers so far? I believe the previous consensus was to beware of sellers from Asia but starting to see more and more popping up from UK at low prices from sellers with >99% with 50+ feedback.
 
Sorry in advance if this has already been discussed. Only browsed through a few of the pages... kinda got lazy trying to read through 50 pages.

 

[PCWar]

Hi. I have posted also on the Appreciation thread but maybe I needed to first post here. I bought the IE8 on ttvjaudio.com (a sponsor of head-fi.org) for 200$ plus shipping. Every visible sign is regular and genuine. I am pretty shure about this (red chip on the right side and on the jack, curves of the S on the logos, box hard to open). I have burned them for around 100 hours. The audio quality is very good but what concerns me is the bass quantity. I own also a pair of Sennheiser CX500 and althought the sound quality on the IE8 is for shure better in everything the IE8 loose in bass quantity. The cx500 offer more quantity even then the 5th position of the ie8 (althought boomy and less detailed). Also, I don't notice a marked increase in bass quantity when moving from one level to the other. Maybe it's the seal because when I press with the index fingers with the stock tips they seem to increase in bass quantity. 

 

[Tolblo]

 
I have purchased no less than four pairs of fake IE8's. They have all been different in just how they are fake. The last pair was the best, they could easily pass for the real product to someone who hasn't listened to a real pair (or another decent pair of earphones) or isn't checking for the design defects. Their bass was powerful and they generally weren't a bad pair of earphones but nothing you would spend over £50 on. Also the bass adjuster made no difference.
The sound quality of the other three pairs ranged from ok to terrible. Every pair had design defects: none had a visible red chip wire on the right earphone, none had a wire with good quality feel and none had the 'R' symbol on the right earphone angled to the side. Those were the only visible defects of the best sounding pair. The other three pairs had various issues such as the 'S' symbol not being particularly curved, cheap plastic earphone travel box, barcode to the left of the R etc...
 
The real IE8's blew me away out of the box. If you're the least bit hesitant then I expect you have a fake.

 

[jleewach]

I really doubt the fakes have 'cloned' drivers. I can understand the ability to clone aesthetic aspects of the headphones, but I'm sure Sennheiser has a million patients on each of their different drivers, and with something as intricate & complicated as a miniature headphone driver, it just would not be an easy thing to 'clone.' People out there thinking their fakes sound good, and therefore the drivers must be cloned, have never heard the genuine product, simple as that. This type of thing just pisses me off...

 

[CARRION FEAST]

I recently purchased a pair of fakes (an impulse EBay purchase without my usual week or so of research) and thanks to this thread was 80% convinced they were fake before they arrived & 100% convinced upon delivery, after which I ordered a genuine pair through an authorized dealer which I received a few days later. The fakes are remarkable, but upon careful inspection very obviously not from Sennheiser - the packaging is the main give away, it's sloppy. SolidVictory's comparison photos are excellent, but for me one of the main give aways (besides the sound - which I think would be capable of fooling the uninitiated) was the inside of the storage case, even before I received my genuine 8's to compare, I knew Sennheiser would not sell a product with such crude - cut with a Stanley knife and stencil & glue splattered - product.
Anyway, this does not put me off EBay - this was my first negative experience, I will just be more careful in the future. If anyone else is going to buy IE-8's from there, go for it, just check out the sellers other products, enquire about authenticity and mention to them your fear of buying fakes. Only buy from sellers that sell at a "buy it now price" that is not too low, the current street price seems to be $200 - $350 (personal observation).
I was lucky and got a refund, I also still have the fakes, which I think I might place somewhere near my computer as a kind of "caveat emptor" monument.

 

[dleblanc343]

 
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I also need to know about a pair of IE8's I've spotted. The person is selling for 180$ canadian, slightly used, so it is a very realistic price. I will meet him in person so that helps things a bit. He sent me some pictures, but they are not very clear to me and was wondering if someone here can help me judge if it's in fact legit or not.

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[stacey]

The look legit. The red chip is there, and the Senheiser logo isn't overdone.  
The best thing is to pick up IE8i's. There's a few seals/holograms on the box that displayed prominently, along with the serial number on the box as a barcode. The pic quality is pretty garbage though. 

 

[dleblanc343]

Hmm, the ie8i's are the ones with iphone compatibility? Unfortunately as I'm going for local purchase I don't have any other choice. But the packaging does look fishy to me as well. There does not seem to be texture on the package as it has been suggested to be. And the bar code which should start near the "r" of the sennheiser doesn't seem to be the case. But the picture is really unclear on that...
 
Thanks for your input