Is there ANY way to identify a fake LM3886 before buying one ???

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Hi there .

I'm trying to build my first LM3886 chipamp,but one of the things that make me frustrated:( is that when I went to buy the chip I found that it is sold - in the same neighbourhood- with at least 3 different prices... 3 shops,3 different prices (18,24 and 40 LE .."LE": local currency ) for the SAME chip

I am not gonna rush and get 40 LE part thinking it should be genuine , first because it's so expensive ,second, who knows it might be fake.So is there ANY way to identify a fake LM3886 by just looking at it ?

I really appreciate any recommendation
Thanks in advance
 
Yes there is a way - don't buy from some dodgy back street shop in your local neighbourhood. Buy from a reputable electronics component supplier.

Why do you risk getting a fake for the sake of a few dollars??? The LM3886 is probably the cheapest part of your amp.
 
Dear Gopher,
Thanks for you quick response

In my city, there is only one famous region specified for selling electronic components , which I refered to by "in the same neighbourhood" . Like you said, there must be reputable suppliers in that region, but believe me good reputation is not enough to make sure that the product is reputable .

Any way , I'll try what you said
 
Are there fake LM3886? I bought one of those cheap ebay YJ LM3886. The whole amplifier came assembled with 2 LM3886 and cost me only $18. I looked at it and was thinking it must be made of all fake components and I never built it. One day the MYREF revc I built with LM3886 bought from digikey died. I opened it up and discovered my chip was bad. In desperation I unsoldered the YJ LM3886 and swapped it into MYREF board. To my surprise it sounded exactly the same as the chip I bought from digikey and it has been working fine for the last 4 months.
 
It's more who you buy from than what to look for on the pagkage. I looked on National's website for distributor and got to here (TI now owns National):
Authorized Distributors by Region - TI.com

ETA: Here's the list, starting at ti.com, choosing semiconductor distributors, then choosing Egypt:
http://www.ti.com/general/docs/distributorinfo.tsp?countryCode=EG
These are the authorized distributors. If you buy from one of them, the part you get is (almost) certainly genuine, and in the rare case it's not, they'll surely replace it and investigate.

If you buy from anyone else, you have a high chance of getting a fake.
 
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