shnitz
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2010
- Posts
- 234
- Likes
- 15
To start, I know that DBI is just using an MB Quart housing with their own drivers. I decided to try the DBI Pro 700, as people buying from eBay have reported good experiences. I bought from user snapper46, with this listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130409600236
So, I paid my $40, and the headphones arrived today. They came in a USPS box. They were wrapped in bubble wrap, and they had a piece of cardboard in the headband. Instead of the pictured headphones, I have the same housing, but the label is of MB Quart
Testing them after letting them run for about 5 hours, they don't seem to carry the music as well as they should. While they are clear, they don't have the weight that they should behind the music. The bass is definitely lacking, and the sound is very flat. They don't seem to be balanced properly. I am comparing them to AKG K240 Studio. They don't seem bad, but they only perform like $40 headphones, not the $180 that I was expecting. I used 320 kbps recordings of Gorillaz Plastic Beach and Miike Snow. On Plastic Beach's track 3, the violins and flutes sound OK, just a different sound signature than AKG. Both were running straight out of a plastic Macbook.
Does anyone have any more info about the ebay user? Did he just find a surplus of the housings/factory that made them and then make his own DBI 700s? Does DBI receive the MB Quart housings and just place their own sticker over the MB Quart logo?
Here is what the logo of mine looks like, the QP805:
http://audioshop.kiev.ua/images2/mbquart_qp805demobig.jpg
In fact, the housing looks almost identical to that. The changes are:
-The screen that covers the driver is so thin that even in a room with the light off, I can see the metal of the drivers.
-There is no crinkling in the pleather of my pads; they are smooth as eggs.
-The cable looks the the eBay listing. But, the part where the cable attaches to the earcup is flat, instead of having a bump molded to allow room for the cable inside of the earcup. Imagine the other side's earcup, just with a hole in the bottom for the cable to enter.
-The TRS connector looks different.
So, what do you guys say, what exactly has fallen into my lap? Is someone getting smart, custom building his own headphones, and selling them as an established brand? It wouldn't be too difficult to find the factory that made the housings, and then just have them make another run. Put your own drivers in, and voila.
I have included pictures. Sorry for the quality but I feel they convey the issues. I can include better pictures in a few hours if needed.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130409600236
So, I paid my $40, and the headphones arrived today. They came in a USPS box. They were wrapped in bubble wrap, and they had a piece of cardboard in the headband. Instead of the pictured headphones, I have the same housing, but the label is of MB Quart
Testing them after letting them run for about 5 hours, they don't seem to carry the music as well as they should. While they are clear, they don't have the weight that they should behind the music. The bass is definitely lacking, and the sound is very flat. They don't seem to be balanced properly. I am comparing them to AKG K240 Studio. They don't seem bad, but they only perform like $40 headphones, not the $180 that I was expecting. I used 320 kbps recordings of Gorillaz Plastic Beach and Miike Snow. On Plastic Beach's track 3, the violins and flutes sound OK, just a different sound signature than AKG. Both were running straight out of a plastic Macbook.
Does anyone have any more info about the ebay user? Did he just find a surplus of the housings/factory that made them and then make his own DBI 700s? Does DBI receive the MB Quart housings and just place their own sticker over the MB Quart logo?
Here is what the logo of mine looks like, the QP805:
http://audioshop.kiev.ua/images2/mbquart_qp805demobig.jpg
In fact, the housing looks almost identical to that. The changes are:
-The screen that covers the driver is so thin that even in a room with the light off, I can see the metal of the drivers.
-There is no crinkling in the pleather of my pads; they are smooth as eggs.
-The cable looks the the eBay listing. But, the part where the cable attaches to the earcup is flat, instead of having a bump molded to allow room for the cable inside of the earcup. Imagine the other side's earcup, just with a hole in the bottom for the cable to enter.
-The TRS connector looks different.
So, what do you guys say, what exactly has fallen into my lap? Is someone getting smart, custom building his own headphones, and selling them as an established brand? It wouldn't be too difficult to find the factory that made the housings, and then just have them make another run. Put your own drivers in, and voila.
I have included pictures. Sorry for the quality but I feel they convey the issues. I can include better pictures in a few hours if needed.