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Fake Cardas: Myth or Reality?

Recently I've been trying to sell an older version (without Furutech) of Cardas Golden Reference power cord. For some reason, I have got a lot of questions asking whether this cable is authentic and whether it has a certificate of authenticity.

Are there really that many fake Cardas cables out there, or is this just a smart marketing scam by Cardas to create fear in people so as to make them buy from only select distributors and allow Cardas to better control retail prices? I cannot imagine that counterfeiters would have nothing better to do all day but produce only fake Cardas cables on a mass scale, where in my view there are a lot of much better power cables out there, such as Stealth, Synergistic, NBS, Shunyata, Nordost, etc.

I have purchased other power cords that cost many times more than the Golden Reference, but I have not heard from these manufacturers about fakes in the marketplace. Many of these brands do not issue the so-called "certificate of authenticity". In this day and age, if they can produce fakes of the cable, don't we think that they can also produce fakes of "certificate of authenticity", just as there are fake driver license and ID cards.

Frankly, I don't really care if I sell my GR cable because it is not a major expense for me as compared to how much I've already sunk into my system. It is just annoying to have to answer all these emails, and I think it would be rather disingenuous of Cardas if all this talk about so many fakes of their products in the market were not true....
avguy
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Cardas 'fakes' started when Cardas was the hot calbe to buy, and one of the most expensive. Now, with so many other expensive brands, Cardas has fallen off the radar in some ways. But plenty of Fake Cardas was sold. Nice thing is Cardas will verify if a cable is genuine, if you send it to them.
The Kimber.. mostly 8TC i would be concerned about, and recently way too many Hero are showing up. I personally would never again buy a 1 meter Hero used, or "so called' new, off any internet site that was not an official Kimber dealer.
Then the mysterious 8AG showing up. i would never trust buying such an expensive wire.. It is just a bit too 'funky'
So those are the main Kimber to worry about. IMO

THe 'fake' AudioQuest are actually probably real, just illegal grey market stuff.
Others i do not know. The Asian fakery market can be very, very good at making a reproduction. AND the bigger the target, the more fakes can be pumped into the market.
gslone
274 posts
 
There have been reports of counterfeit Tara Labs and NBS cable in the past. If you send a used Tara Labs cable to the company to be examined, and they find it to be counterfeit, they won't return it to you.
steveaustin
56 posts
 
Elizabeth brings up a good point on the Kimber - the fake 8TC cables look like dead ringers for the real thing (to me, at least). But the $2000+ 8AG you see for sale (oftentimes, but not always, from sellers in SE Asia) *does* indeed look a bit suspect.

And, per Gslone's post above, I guess I'd think twice before sending suspect cables to Tara Labs for verification ... ("hey, give me my fake Taras back!...")
mceljo
983 posts
 
Sidssp - How did the fake cables perform before you suspected that they were not genuine? Did you get a real cable to compare?
gslone
274 posts
 
Steveaustin: think twice before buying any used or new cable from Asia or Asians. I can say that cause I'm half Asian... ha-ha.
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