intellifent

Hello guys and/or gals, Just thought I'd let people know I too was duped into purchasing a pair of, what I can almost certainly confirm, are fake S4s from eBay last week (around the £40 mark). The quality of the packaging and indeed the product itself are very good for a pair of fakes. Nothing immediately suggested they were fake, except for two aspects: firstly, the Klipsch logo on the side of the headphones faded almost immediately and secondly, the sound quality was poor. Obviously the latter is subjective, but I was almost certain they were fake. They sounded just like someone here described earlier, as if you were stood outside a nightclub: a bit of thumping bass with a lack of defined, dull mids/highs and flat vocals. There was little sharpness to any of the sound. I let them burn overnight and they sounded perhaps a little bit better (placebo anyone??), if I'm being generous. After reading this thread, I purchased a pair of S4's from a authorised dealer (http://www.homeavdirect.co.uk) and the difference in sound quality was immediately obvious. Everything sounds so beautiful. I'm by no means an audiophile, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but they are the best headphones I've purchased at the sub £100 mark (not that I've ever purchased headphones for more, mind you!); the bass has punch, but isn't overpowering, and the mids/highs are nice and sharp. Yummy. BeSerious posted a list of differences between the fakes and reals (page 4 of this thread) and I'd just like to corroborate/contradict certain aspects. Let me just preface this by saying it would appear that the pair I bought from homeavdirect were, I suspect, old stock: - The colour of BOTH the fake and real boxes was the old grey colour and were almost identical, except the former was a slightly faded grey (but would be impossible to tell without the real box to compare). -The case is indeed shinnier for the real headphones, it is also slightly shallower (I'll try and get measurements when I get my hands on some callipers or a ruler!). Also, I noticed that the lid of the fakes was a lot stiffer. For instance, if the lid of the real case is opened to approximately 95 degrees it will fall open, while the fake lid stayed in place at this angle. This does sound rather unreliable though, so can anyone confirm the same?? - BOTH the real and fakes DID come with an earwax pick. - The fake and real headphones had medium sized tips attached. The fakes had a further three pairs in a plastic bag (there were also little bits of plastic left over, presumably from where the holes were punched through) while the real ones came with two pairs that were loose. - With respect to translucancy of the tips, I'll have to check when I'm home. - The connection on BOTH was a 3.5mm L-SHAPED jack. - The Klipsch insignia ('v' thing on the back of the headphones) - The Klipsch logo on the side of the headphones rubbed off after 5 minutes on the fakes while wrt to the real ones, it remained even after (light) scratching. I noticed three other aspects which I don't think have been described: - Firstly, the L and R on either headphone was thicker on the fakes. - The actual cardboard of the real packaging seems of a better quality, and it was conspicuously harder to open than the fake box. The latter opened really easily down the perforated edge. - Finally, the instructions manual was printed on a shinnier type of paper. While there was some sheen on the fake instructions it was more notable on the real ones, particularly when held up to light. I'll try and capture this on camera in the sun, when I'm not busy and post the pics (assuming I can get a decent shot). So I hope this helps? It would appear the only recurring giveaways of fakes is the fading of the logo and the sound quality. One final thought, I don't know where it was posted, but somebody posted images showing the proportions of the klipsch insignia on the case was different between the real and fakes. On the fakes, the insignia overlaps with the the last part of the 'h' in Klipsch, but this isn't the case in the real ones. I'll try and find the images again later. I can confirm this was the same for my cases.