Cambridge, UK (August 9, 2023)—When you’re thinking of counterfeit consumer products, fashion or jewelry usually come to mind, but pro audio has seen its fair share of fakes turn up over the years. Usually it’s loudspeakers or microphones, as some shapes and components are easy to pass off as the real thing to the untrained eye, and a quickly fabricated corporate logo slapped on the side can make fraudulent gear look good enough to pass off as bonafide product—until it gets put into use and the lack of quality becomes audibly clear.
That recently happened with audio interface specialist Prism Sound, which has issued a warning to customers to be careful after counterfeit versions of its Lyra audio interface were discovered on sale in the Far East. The UK manufacturer reports it is now investigating who is behind the fake units, which according to CEO James Woodburn are badly constructed and potentially dangerous.
“We discovered these units on sale in China and immediately bought two so that we could examine them more thoroughly,” Woodburn said. “While they may look convincing at first glance, under the surface they are poorly made and not worth the money people are trying to sell them for. As Prism Sound’s entire philosophy is to give customers the highest possible audio quality, we want to make it very clear to all audio professionals that these counterfeits fall a long way short of the audio performance and build quality of legitimate products.”
So far, only Lyra interfaces are known to have been counterfeited, but the company’s Atlas and Titan interfaces may also be impacted. Wanting to ensure customers don’t get ripped off, the company is suggesting buyers only buy its products locally from authorized and fully certified retailers. A full list of all authorized retailers in all territories is available on the company’s website. It’s worth noting that understandably counterfeit product won’t be covered by Prism Sound’s usual warranty.
“If something looks too good to be true, it usually is,” Woodburn said. “This is patent theft and for a small manufacturer, this type of illegal activity is very damaging to our core business. We don’t want customers to be fooled into buying them because we know that they won’t get the audio quality they are looking for from a poorly made copy.”
