How rampant are knock-off headphones?

[Schadenfroh]

I was going to purchase a pair of Sennheiser HD555 (I assume that this is the latest Sennheiser model in this price range) and noticed a large price discrepancy.

J&R, NewEgg, Amazon.com, etc. and just about every major retailer are selling them for $130, yet there are some resellers on Amazon selling it new for < $100. A price that seems substantially lower than normal and set off alarm bells based on past events. I know that the Sennheiser earbuds have been cloned, but I was curious if the regular headphones have been hit by the ghost shifters as well. I want to avoid these knock-offs at all cost due to quality concerns and the ethical implications of buying falsely branded items.

 

[Tiamat]

The one's that went for 65$ on amazon about a year ago were legit. One of the best headphones for around 70-100$. Another contender (and one I prefer slightly more) is the Denon 1001. Both typically can be found on sale for 80-90$.

I would wager the ones on amazon and buy.com are legit. I wouldn't chance a weird amazon merchant though unless they had good reviews.

 

[uhohs]

i haven't ever heard reports of fake hd555's.