[estreeter]

I bought two IEMs in Malaysia this trip, one definitely fake and I suspect the others are also - 'Fischer Audio' mystically becomes ''Fisher Audio" in one part of the tiny attempt at a 'manual'. In any case, I paid a pittance on the premise that it would be interesting to see what these sounded like : someone clearly put a lot of effort into the Turbines ripoff and the differences are only going to be obvious to someone who knows what they are looking at:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxvZv8HiiN8
 
What is surprising from the YouTube vids is that quite a few people appear to have bought both 'Turbine versions', and what really surprised me is that the fakes didn't sound like the $5 IEMs I suspected they would be. No question that they have overdone the bass to hide inherent flaws, but that little trick is used by plenty of 'reputable' makers : I've been using both the Turbines and the 'Optima V2' for a few days now and my head hasn't exploded : I just notice the lack of boosted bass when I go back to my other phones.
 
I'm not endorsing fake headphones in any way, but the reality (particularly in Asia) is that they are everywhere. In the case of the Turbines, I havent heard things like the Hippo VB but I suspect the people who put this together have used similar drivers from a cheaper IEM to give the illusion that you 'got what you paid for'. If, and I sincerely doubt it, these guys are designing their own drivers, they really are wasting their talents - I guess its easier to sell off the back of Monster's massive marketing budget than have to get your own product out there.
 
(Note that none of the above speaks to things like durability, but for 30-40AUD I have come to expect very little in that respect)
 
 

 

[3602]

LOL the sticker says "authentic goods".
They got little factories here and there, everywhere. Chuck some felt in the right place and you can "tune" them. Sorta.
 
You should pull the housing apart.

 

[estreeter]

The Turbine packaging is a lot closer to the 'real thing' than the packaging on most of the fake goodies you will find all over Asia - its weird that they didnt make a little more effort in duplicating the color combination on the box - the printed doco inside all looks authentic and is a massive step up from the 'Omega V.2' I bought in a slightly less shady-looking electronics store. The guys in the 'here today, gone tomorrow' booth-style stores will rob you blind, and I had to ignore the smirking when I bought the 'Monsters'. If anything, its piqued my interest and I plan to buy a pair of genuine Turbines when I get back to the sanity of Oz.

 

[ClieOS]

Welcome to my world

. That's why I almost never buy headphone in my home country. There are however trustworthy stores if you know where to look.
 
Factories in China that make fake IEM usually don't make their own transducers. They just bulk order cheap transducer and parts from supplier then put them together.

 

[qawsedrf]

-edit-

 

[estreeter]

Jaben is overpriced, imo - i bought the 'Fisher' IEMs at a mall-style electronics stall filled with the usual 'name brand' stuff from Korea 
 
Best headphones this trip were in a tiny stall here at Chiang Mai

 

[weechuen]

Sorry for your case dude, 
 
No offence to any Malaysians, but Malaysia is indeed a place famous for imitations, such as branded goods, pirated VCDs and many more.
Worst of all, they do not sell them as imitation, and instead try to pass the imitations as genuine products.
 
Do take note of these when buying from 'shady' looking places.
 
In Asia, places like HongKong, Malaysia, Indonesia provides many counterfeit items. (I'm not saying that everything there is fake so no offence)
 
But there are many cases of scams from these countries, so do beware.