Side by Side guide to telling the difference between fake pioneer HDJ 2000 and Real ones
Howdy… Here is a quick guide to help you tell the genuine article from the dodgy copys – I purchased a pair of HDJ-2000 from a Pioneer Authorised dealer and one pair from Alibaba.com where I managed to get a fake pair a bit cheaper than ebay. Unfortunately i ended up getting stiffed on the delivery which ended up costing £48 GBP for delivering a pair of headphones which cost £35 – Damn import duties – anyway I digress
At first glance the two boxes look the same but if you look closely the real ones look gray on the box where as the fake ones have a slight green and orange tinge – the hardboard is not as shiny as well
The inner box is stamped like the original but not as crisp – the pioneer logo is very poos and unreadable
The carry bag and packaging are almost identical with the same tags – on the fake ones the cable is in a plastic bag as well which the real ones did not
I have herd reports that the logo on the headband is not quite right – if they wernt side by side it would be difficult to tell on these new ones but the N is a bit wonky and the finish is not as even on the fake ones – the real ones have a perfectly even shade of grey where as the fakes have lighter and darker patches around the edges of the letters.
Here they are side by side – you can see that the fake ones have a fatter headband pad but to the untrained eye they look the same
One thing you will spot is marks all over the hinges – this is more than likely where they have damaged the originals while pulling them apart to recast them.
The earpads are different as well as the headband pad – they are fatter on the fakes. This surprises me a bit because I would have thought the pads would have been the easiest part to fake.
Under the pads the drivers look very similar but if you look through the hole in the middle …. The real ones have a clear diaphragm with a silvery finish and the fake one are a milky colour
Under the hood the drivers look pretty similar as does the DIN socket and mono switch board although the fake ones have less solder pads on the driver
Other notes… The hinges do not move smoothly on the fakes and do not “click” into position like on the real ones. The sound is OK on the fakes I would say they are as good as most $50 headphones and the noise cancellation is similar but the real ones do sound lovely and crisp with more detailed bass and better bass extension
I hope this helps when you are looking at buying some. As you can imagine it cost a few quid to make this guide any I ended up spending a months drinking money on fake headphones. If it has really helped feel free to buy me a pint
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