[manigandham]

I agree with you completely. I've yet to have a shoddy counterfeit product with thousands of purchases over a decade. Any actual problems are also solved within minutes.

Can someone link a product listing that they received a counterfeit from?

[rossjudson]

https://www.amazon.com/TOPPING-es9018k2m-opa2134-Decoder-Amp...

"HIFI Audio Decoder Amplifier - Aimpire AD10 MINI USB DAC CSS XMOS XU208 ES9018K2M OPA2134 Audio Amplifier Decoder"

This is a fake. Strange how the URL says TOPPING but the product is from "Aimpire". Aimpire has been photoshopped into some, but not all of the product pictures (where TOPPING is still visible in a few).

Turns out that Aimpire has had a contentious relationship with Topping (the designer and manufacturer of the real thing), started making their own (inferior and unlicensed) versions of the Topping product.

Looks like this one is "sold by amazon.com". Huh. Guess it slipped by their counterfeit checkers.

[manigandham]

Interesting, thanks for the link.

This is a strange case. The reviews seem to say people are buying the Topping product but getting the Aimpire product. But if you buy from this page, you're knowingly purchasing the Aimpire version. Are people buying Topping from another listing and getting this?

EDIT: never mind, looks like this product used to say Topping and was changed, and that's why the URL is still the original wording. That's clearly a scam then.

[rossjudson]

Search audiosciencereview and you'll find all the juicy details ;)