[shnitz]

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.

 
 

 

[joelpearce]

That's odd.
 
It's the termination that is really strange looking to me

 

[joelpearce]

If they are MB Quarts, and are 300 ohm models, you might not be driving them well enough.

 

[tipsycoma]

Hey man, in response to your question in my thread that's similar to yours, yes I bought the cans off snapper46.
 
Yours aren't DBI's either, but they look to be similar. In any case, you got a decent deal. Here's the exact model of your cans I believe.
 
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_26706_MB+Quart+QP+805+High+Solid+-QP805HS-.html?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=froogle

 

[shnitz]

Those aren't my cans.  The housing is a little bit different (has that bulge for the cable to enter the casing), has a different cable, and has a different label.  So, the housing is similar, but it could just be a Chinese knockoff.  Why would MB Quart make a headphone label with only their logo and no model name?

 

[Anaxilus]

I just got the same snapper DBI700's.  There is nothing wrong w/ the way mine sounds.  They have Bass, just not over emphasized like some of my other phones.  Mine look exactly like the MB Quarts except for the Cable.  The MB Quart is a 300 ohm, the DBI is a 40 ohm as it says on Ebay.  I can play them fine w/ my portable DAP so they are clearly not 300 ohms.  I'm currently burning mine in but nothing is wrong w/ the sound.  After burn is is done, I'll give them power and see if they distort, That should do well to tell if they are knockoff drivers.
 
Edit-I see you are using a plastic Macbook as your source.  That might explain a few things.  

 
BTW, if you don't like the MB Quart labels, I'll swap my DBI tags w/ you.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

Those aren't my cans.  The housing is a little bit different (has that bulge for the cable to enter the casing), has a different cable, and has a different label.  So, the housing is similar, but it could just be a Chinese knockoff.  Why would MB Quart make a headphone label with only their logo and no model name?

There wouldn't be much point in faking MB Quarts. Most consumers have never even heard of MB Quart. Recording studios and such use MB Quart QP805s, and they'd get them from a reputable source.
 
Why would they? Why not? Maybe demo purposes? Or for simplicity. Everyone who they're marketing to knows what they are.
 
And I bet this link will make you rather happy. The only obvious difference (the cable entry looks somewhat similar) is the armoured cable on yours. Either way, if Kabeer likes the QP805s, you've done quite well in my opinion.

 

[shnitz]

What has me worried is that these have a slightly different housing and cable than MB Quart, and MB Quarts at least have the model name on the label.  I could care less what is written on the headphones; I'll buy the Altec Lansing/Creative all day over the same Denon/Ultimate Ears offering and gladly pocket the difference without so much as a look back.  However, what this headphone that I'm currently holding implies, to me, is that this guy found out how to have a similar headphone made as the DBI Pro 700.  He got some factory overrun, or commissioned the factory to make another 1,000 housings very similar to the original run, and is putting in his own drivers and cabling, then labeling them as coming from a major corporation.  Who knows what drivers he's using.  The plastic Macbook drives headphones pretty well.  I've driven AKG K240, various Ultrasone up to proline 650/750, etc.  The volume these phones get to make me assume that they are the 40-Ohm version.  I'll try out of a uDAC and a Sparrow to see if it improves.
 
Regardless, they aren't $200 headphones like they were supposed to be.  For $30-$40 I get decent headphones for my money.  But for someone that got Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4 for $22 (as Altec Lansing) instead of $80, Denon D1001 for $50 (as Creative Aurvana) instead of $100+, and AKG K518 for $35 instead of over $100 (NIB, thanks to AKG not being known in America, got a great deal from someone not knowing what they were sitting on, plus being the fuchsia ones), I'm not looking to get something good enough for my money.  I want to get better for my money, which is why I agreed to buy $180 headphones for $40 shipped.  As soon as me and my friends tried these out, after burning them in, we could tell.  If these are truly DBI 700 drivers, then my recommendation is for everyone that was considering these to instead go to Amazon and buy yourself K240 Studio for $100, and don't look back.
 
I ended up telling the seller that I just want my money back, that I don't want to deal with it, test them out, make sure, etc.  I'll just bite my losses and keep my eyes open for something else.  I've been wanting to step up my IEMs anyway, Amazon has the Super.fi 5 for $75. I should have jumped on this deal:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/458905/ultimate-ears-triple-fi-10-earphones-for-99-at-amazon
But maybe something good will come along.  I'll just enjoy what I have for now.

 

[Anaxilus]

2 things:
 
1-I don't understand why you are shocked the cable is different and suspect a scam.  The Quarts use 300 ohm cables the DBI's use 40ohms.  No kidding the cables look different.  Have you even been to the DBI website?  It's the same damned cable the DBI are supposed to have.  http://dbiint.com/pro700
 
2-You obviously have some sort or linear causal relationship between spending cash and gaining improved sound quality irrespective of your desired sound signature and gear synergy.  I'm sure there are those that would find the DBI 700's to be a better sounding and performing investment than your 240's.  
 
You obviously have a desired sound signature in mind and made the right choice to return them.  I also don't know why you think all $200 headphones sound better than $100 ones and that its a universally accepted fact.
 
Anyway, I've had enough DBI 700 talk for one day, best of luck.

 

[shnitz]

OK, here are my issues:
 
- Housings: These are not Indonesian handmade vases, they are headphones.  There aren't supposed to variations between one specimen to another.  Variation shows that this particular headphone appear to be a forgery.  The headphone casing, not having the bulge at the bottom where the cable comes in, tells me that this is a different run of headphones than one of the "big brands." Go read about any other fake headphone, and you will read about small production differences that verify whether a headphone is real or not.
 
-Cable: They are MB Quart phones, but they have DBI cables.  This is like buying a Corvette and getting Viper wheels "from the factory."  Something's fishy.  Either the headphone should be a DBI, and have the DBI cable that is currently on it, or it should be MB Quart, and have the MB Quart label on it.  Also, the headphone plug is different from DBI plugs.  Did DBI just randomly decide to change parts in the middle of the production run?
 
-Label: Having the MB Quart label makes it appear to me, tells me one of two things.  MB Quart produces a slightly different run of headphones, including changing to a cable that a competitor uses, and then labels the casings with a general logo before selling the housing to be used by other companies.  Or two, this seller has a big batch of fake labels that he's putting on headphones.
 
Again, I'm not knocking DBI.  I'm knocking the headphones that I'm holding.  This is also a reflection on the seller.  Can you get DBI headphones from him?  Maybe.  But if I can't buy with the same confidence as buying from Best Buy, then it's worth noting.
 
I don't think that $200 are always better than $100 headphones.  But, generally among respected brands, you get what you pay for in terms of R&D, materials, etc.  Yeah, there must be people that like Grado SR80 more than RS1, but go to any of the MANY threads that new users start asking "What is a $100 headphone that sounds better than a $1,000 headphone," and you get a deluge of people telling the poster that if that were the world today, then no one would be buying $1,000 headphones.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

OK, here are my issues:
 
- Housings: These are not Indonesian handmade vases, they are headphones.  There aren't supposed to variations between one specimen to another.  Variation shows that this particular headphone appear to be a forgery.  The headphone casing, not having the bulge at the bottom where the cable comes in, tells me that this is a different run of headphones than one of the "big brands." Go read about any other fake headphone, and you will read about small production differences that verify whether a headphone is real or not.
 
 
-Cable: They are MB Quart phones, but they have DBI cables.  This is like buying a Corvette and getting Viper wheels "from the factory."  Something's fishy.  Either the headphone should be a DBI, and have the DBI cable that is currently on it, or it should be MB Quart, and have the MB Quart label on it.  Also, the headphone plug is different from DBI plugs.  Did DBI just randomly decide to change parts in the middle of the production run?
 
 
 
-Label: Having the MB Quart label makes it appear to me, tells me one of two things.  MB Quart produces a slightly different run of headphones, including changing to a cable that a competitor uses, and then labels the casings with a general logo before selling the housing to be used by other companies.  Or two, this seller has a big batch of fake labels that he's putting on headphones.
 
Again, I'm not knocking DBI.  I'm knocking the headphones that I'm holding.  This is also a reflection on the seller.  Can you get DBI headphones from him?  Maybe.  But if I can't buy with the same confidence as buying from Best Buy, then it's worth noting.

1: THESE HEADPHONES WOULD BE TOTALLY UNECONIMICAL TO FAKE! Look what it's made of. What would the profits be?! Hard plastic and metal isn't what I'd call cheap. I'm pretty sure MB Quart had been making QP805s for years. It isn't inconceivable that they would make slight variatioins during the years it's been produced fro different markets. You probably got one from a different market, that's all.
 
2: It's called an armored cable. MB Quart has these in some of their QP805s. Actually, I've seen the exact same headphone (down to the plug) being sold in ebay.uk for about $60.
 
3: WTH? No. Why would the label be faked? That would be too obvious. For example, to any others reading this thread, didn't AKG change their logo for the K701 after X number of them were produced? Again, only popular consumer headphones like the Audio Technica ES7 are faked. Have you ever seen QP805s outside of a studio?
 
4: Why didn't you return them? Or just sell them for the price you got them for christ's sake. I'm sure people would buy them.

 

[joelpearce]

Yeah, I would probably buy them from you for what you paid, assuming you can't get your money back or return them.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

How much for the fake MB Quart labels?  WTT for my DBI 700 tag?  

 

[nyumetsu]

Sorry to chime in on an old thread--Having owned DBI Pro 705's and 700's, I can attest to the fact that the cable is indeed factory.  Might not be a Quart cable (although apparently it is), but it's definitely no fuss.
 
Secondly, the plug-- I recognize the plug as I have a few myself.  It's a wholesale right angle mini that's manufactured in Hong Kong I believe, or at least that's where I got mine from.  Maybe the cable was repaired or something--who knows.  Looks like it's attached properly so you wouldn't have anything to worry about.
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Right-Angle-3-5mm-1-8-Audio-TRS-Connector-Plug-1813A-/290400810868?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item439d3cb774
 
 
Aside from that, there are a few users on here who would give their firstborn's for your Quart, so if you haven't gotten rid of it or come across one again, I might read up on it.

 

[The Other Allen]

Personally, I'd have preferred MB Quarts to the DBI PRO 700s (based on name recognition), but can understand why someone would be less than pleased over substitution.  I bought 2 pairs of PRO 700s from the same ebay seller, and except for the MB Quart lable, they look exactly like what the OP received.  Same housing, same armored cable, same right angle plug.  I liked them enough to buy a pair of MB Quart 805 High Solids, which have a different housing, cable and plug.  They are definitely different and better phones than the PRO 700s (and more expensive.)