These have got to be counterfeit

It also says the transducer is crystal!

I swear they have a really advanced AI search engine designed to sell you what your not looking for, a friend and I were looking for a generic 15-16 in deep rack mount chassis for a project and if you put the dimensions you want in it gives you all these results with titles modded to fit your criteria but when you read all the listings they don’t match!

"There's a sucker born every minute"
-P.T. Barnum

EvaAnne sure casts a long shadow in our humble industry, wouldn't you say?

I loved the Condensadors.
Even after Lionel Ritchie left.

I will always be a fan of 3 Times a Ladle 

No doubt Astatic...

Now in the back of my mind I’m picturing a U87 with one of those combo crystal mic/ earpiece’s like the one in the 101 electronic project kits I had as a kid, RIP Radio Shack.

Now why don’t people open up their made in China gear and realize that what’s in is just as fake as those manli mics? The capacitor brand names are hilarious. The cope is strong.

I say this using made in China monitors that are incredibly electrically fragile 😝

Advancing the State by any means necessary, including stealing and reusing IP is a primary strategy.

While I certainly can't believe most internals, especially the capsule are Neumann, I wouldn't be surprised if the packaging and box (perhaps even the body and grill) are very close if not identical.

I worked for a premier global agricultural manufacturer that has factories in China. I also know a couple of people who have tried to do manufacturing of their own proprietary product there. The Chinese government takes ownership of any equipment imported or built there, to the point that it cannot be removed should the manufacturer wish to pull their operations out of China, and there is no compensation for the thousands if not millions of dollars invested. This leads to China keeping the original equipment, as well as reverse-engineering it so they can manufacture identical machinery and output if desired.

I currently work deploying contract management software, often for large, global companies that have a presence in China. These are systems that provide workflow and repository for facilitating legal agreements and documents with vendors, customers, partners, as well as around mergers/acquisitions and internal operations. Certainly confidential, and a lot of IP is involved that is proprietary and a competitive advantage. These companies recognize the advantage of a system that leverages contractual information across the organization. However, without fail we are always asked to isolate China as its own entity within the system, setting up security and functionality such that Chinese users cannot use, access, or view any content outside of their own. These companies recognize and fully acknowledge the high risk and likelihood of stolen IP leading to reverse engineering, illegal duplication, and illegal sale of proprietary and unpublished trade data, and what that would do to the market and their bottom line should it be taken advantage of. Sad, but true.

I bought a mic from AliExpress once with the intention of using the body as a donor. I got the mic and it was about 3/4 scale to the real thing, so the body was too small to use as a donor. It only cost me like 20$ so I just threw it away.

It was real metal though. I half expected it to be plastic.