A friend of mine once showed me a $300 replica of Hublot and Panerai watches. For $300, you are not buying the original, but rather a top-of-the class, virtually indistinguishable, luxury watch replicas. The replicas are so good that even watch aficionados cannot tell the difference. Replicas have invaded virtually all industries, from designer handbags to luxury watches, and now, to headphones as well.
We managed to get our hands on a replica ESW9 that was very well made. For about $30, it is quite close to the original. It has a leather headband and leather pads, while the look is quite indistinguishable than the real ESW9 apart from the plastic made housing made to imitate the original wood housing. A friend came by and saw the replica ESW9. He tried playing some music on it, and he said that the ESW9 sounded different than the last ESW9 he heard. The replica was so good looking that he didn’t notice it was a replica! Of course the sound is nothing like a real ESW9. The sound is not even remotely close, though it actually is not bad for $30. If you look at the photo of the ESW9 on the gallery, you’ll be surprised to find that it is a picture of the replica!
The replicas are limited to mostly well-known brands such as the Sony, Bose, and Audio Technica. There were rumors of AKG K701 fakes as well, but we haven’t been able to confirm it. The replicas come in all their original-like packaging, and built quality that is almost on the level of the originals. It is just a matter of time before the replicas can make a 99.9% accurate model. I think Grados can be very easy to duplicate, given their simple design and manufacturing specifications.
Please check out the gallery for more pictures of the replicas.. (they are all fakes)
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- Just like the real thing
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The fakes amazingly have a fairly good packaging and the headphone looks fairly close to the real ones.
The best way to spot a fake is if you have personally seen the original headphone & packaging. Check out the details on the headphone itself, the small letterings and printings, the material of the leather, and the printing on the box is usually not as sharp as the real box.