And once again I got myself a fake. In this video I look inside at some details of the build and materials - I'll do another video and proper review after burn-in. Enjoy the video, ask me questions in the comments
Don't be mistaken. The originele Audioquest cables are made in Cinese factories. Then shipped to the USA, Hongkong and the Netherlands. There they assembly the cables with the connectors and put on the box made in the USA. That's a lie.
That's why I suspect these are "night shift" products. However, K2 was discontinued a few years ago, so maybe someone got the old production line machinery. I don't know. But except for the fact that they are not solid silver but silver plated, everything else checks in...
I contacted Audioquest in my country The Netherlands and ask the same questions. It is correct that the short Audioquest cables are made with the connectors in China. De long cables without the connectors are also made in China. The connectors of Thunderbird and up are also made in China, but assembled in the Netherlands and the USA
I bought a pair of K2 about 5 years ago on the used market. They were a good price but not cheep. I conacted AQ and at that time they said that they had not seen any fake K2 with silver wire. I checked mine and they looked silver. Now looking at your video I am not so sure. They never said that they could of been plated and that i should remove the connector or cut the ends to see.
Very intresting!!!! What inside this fake K2? Off couse, its not Solid Siver Wire? And other materials is not genue from REAL AudioQuest. Actually this is noname cable....
Yes that's not solid silver, you can actually see it's copper that's just silver plated. I would also strongly doubt if the copper is OCC - probably just a copper wire. However, some of that cable qualities come from geometry, and geometry is something you can easily copy. Having said that, I don't think it's 100prc fake. You don't set up an industrial line with such small details as prints on invisible internal insulation to sell miniscule amounts of fake products (look at Ali sales: these are selling in single digit quantities, and cable market even for real stuff is very small to begin with).There's something deeper going on. I guess somebody is using legit production line, but with cheaper metals. Anyway, it's still burning in, I'm very curious about the sound that I'll get.
@@k4syx I think too easy, fakes production for chinese manufacture machine to make a "audiophile" cable than a high-tech audio device ( such as DAC's, AMP, PreAMP....)
@@arizonadream1991 for the counterfeits as general (like shoes, parfums, everyday stuff for commercial) - yes it's huge. But for niche stuff like audiophile speaker cables? That's a niche (fakes) within a niche (people hearing the difference) within another niche (audiophiles). Kinda like fake space shuttles ;) Anyway, I can be wrong, I just can't figure out better explanation.
@@arizonadream1991 I've designed and built some digital devices back home - this level of DIY is quite common, DACs are good example for that (starting with your own PCB and going up). But a cable? With proper insulation? Prints, tin shield inside moulded together? That's way above my skills and access to necessary tools :)
No, my Rocket 44 has completely different bananas that I got locally. I can do a video on quality of fake AQ 1000 series bananas and spades, but that would be only about workmanship/copy quality as I don't hear any changes in sound (though I know there are guys that can hear those miniscule differences)
@@k4syx thanks for the answer! I suppose the connectors are structurally identical to the original ones, but it would be interesting to find out what they are made of. The original ones, if I'm not mistaken, should be made of copper with a silver coating (gold)
@@legion2252 Yes they should have been made from red copper (that's a very soft material) with silver plating. I've cut one of my bananas using knife and I'd say this is brass - it was rather hard, the color was orange but rather bright. But I cannot be sure without trying to oxidize it. Same goes for silver - looks nice and shiny, but there are no traces of black oxide on it. My other (not fake, not AQ) silver plated connectors do get black oxide just like silver jewelry.
Audioquest/or the company who make them for Audioquest sell the bits to 3rd Parties to make these cables/or make them themselves for 3rd World markets.
🤔Too many Fake AudioQuest Cable out in market. Customer are too Fear to buy AudioQuest model box also look the same Fake vs Real. alot of Cancel orders. How to know which is Real or Fake! 😥 Pls resolve this problem as soon as possible.