audioquest King Cobra - genuine or fake?

[chris9]

Please, I bought a pair of used Audioquest Audioquest King Cobra cables from Yahoo Japan for about $45 USD equivalent. They don't come with a box and I was sceptic.


Photos are on Audioquest King Cobra Photos by chris983 | Photobucket


Are these cables genuine or fake?


Thank you for your help


Chris

[JohnMichael]

They look genuine. Outer cover and RCA plugs look like the King Cobras I once owned. AQ has discontinued that model and Music Direct also had them on sale.

[chris9]

Hi JohnMichael,

Thank you for your quick reply. THe feel and the material are telling me they're real, yet the wires inside the cables look quite different from the pictures (no matter way of connection, colors of the wires, etc)I can find on the Audioquest website that's why I was confused.

Audioquest website shows cables this way: Snakes Rivers King Cobra

THanks
CHris

[JohnMichael]

I could not get the resolution needed to see the cable itself. I did see the three solid core wires soldered to the plugs. As best as I could tell they looked like solid core and not stranded. Sometimes what happens is companies buy the bulk cable and terminate it themselves. Looking at the solder work I would say that is the case. AQ cables, AQ plugs and someone else's labor. Audio Advisor buys AQ cables themselves and terminates it for a savings.

[chris9]

Hi John,

Thank you very much for your follow up reply.

The wires are solid wires and not stranded. If the seller really do as you said, they buy in bulk and make the cables by themselves, that would explain why the seller has been selling that type of cable ie. King Cobra, one after one. It looks like he has got endless supply of it. Yet, the plugs do show a little sign of wear and scratch. How do they do it? Using new cables and second hand plugs to make them?

You may now find more close shots of the cables on the same place so you can tell if their genuine.


Audioquest King Cobra Photos by chris983 | Photobucket

Yet, there are some people who said that there shouldn't be anyone who would bother to fake an IC which costs only 150USD. But, as far as I have seen, there really are fake King Cobras on the market.


Thanks
Chris

[Feanor]

I could not get the resolution needed to see the cable itself. I did see the three solid core wires soldered to the plugs. As best as I could tell they looked like solid core and not stranded. Sometimes what happens is companies buy the bulk cable and terminate it themselves. Looking at the solder work I would say that is the case. AQ cables, AQ plugs and someone else's labor. Audio Advisor buys AQ cables themselves and terminates it for a savings.

This is what makes me leary of AudioQuest cables: you're not quite sure what your getting. Retail vendor-terminated cables might work great -- or not.

[chris9]

Hi Feanor,

Yeah, it's really frastrating, and it's a perfect example of love and hate too!

[JohnMichael]

This is what makes me leary of AudioQuest cables: you're not quite sure what your getting. Retail vendor-terminated cables might work great -- or not.

I bought a pair of AQ bi-wire Slates from AA and one of the bananas pulled off due to poor soldering. Yes we have no bananas. I did send back one length of my factory terminated and packaged Rocket 44's due to a broken banana. AQ ended up changing all the bananas and sent the bananas back with the repaired cable. Good service.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

This is what makes me leary of AudioQuest cables: you're not quite sure what your getting. Retail vendor-terminated cables might work great -- or not.

Here is the reality of any cable. You are never sure of what you are getting, or that you are getting what is advertised. The marketing departments push one set of claims, and economics and profit have another push which does not always align with the advertising department. Lots of claims, no validation of actual performance.

[JohnMichael]

This is what makes me leary of AudioQuest cables: you're not quite sure what your getting. Retail vendor-terminated cables might work great -- or not.

My AQ speaker cables and IC and XLR cables are all from AQ and not store terminated. Their is an obvious level of quality that the store terminated cables do not match.

AQ is one of the few companies that show exactly what is in the cable. They also state the level of copper used or silver if one of their top cables. You can see how the cable is constructed of individually insulated solid core wire. How those wires are positioned in the cable. AQ seems like a transparent manufacturer.