In response to MsM's thoughts and questions these are my answers inspired from working on about 70-80 Chinese ribbon mics starting with the Tape Op group buy mic from several years ago, continuing through the Nady RSM series, some Thomann mics, a few Cascades mics and a lot of Apex mics. Taking MsM's comments in order:
1.) Q: Product Quality? - A: Ribbon tension and ribbon motor assembly quality control vary widely. While these mic have the potential to be pretty fine performers, in my experience 30% to 50% of the mics I've seen have ribbons that are so slack they are sagging out of the magnetic gap and are unusable. An equal number have very loose ribbon motor nuts & bolts that not tightened and secured with a locking compound to prevent loosening during travel. A slack ribbon causes low output, distortion and severe "clanging" mechanical noise when the mic is moved or driven hard.
2.) Ribbon durability? A: This has not been a problem. Stock Chinese ribbon mics using a 6 micron or 2 micron aluminum ribbon are no more sensitive to breath pops or bass cabinet tuning port "chuffs" than any other ribbon mic. Ribbon mics can withstand and reproduce incredibly loud source material - but they do not tolerate direct puffs of air. This is true whether the mic cost $100 or several thousand Euros. My advise to anyone who really wants to understand how a ribbon reacts to loud sounds and gentle puffs of air is to invest $100 and buy any ribbon mic you find at that price. Take the headbasket off and start placing it in front of kick drums, bass cabinets and singers. Watch (and listen in headphones) how the ribbon reacts. Push the thing until it breaks so you know what not to do in a real session. This is inexpensive training that teaches lessons you'll never forget - lessons you won't have to learn in public during an important session
3.) You get what you pay for. Well...you may get a great sounding mic with proper ribbon tension right out of the box - a mic that does quite well in A/B tests against the established name brand mics for really short money. Or...you may get a mic with a ribbon so slack you say to yourself upon auditioning it "what is all this ribbon mic fuss about? this thing sound like crap". But no matter what you hear, these mics offer a great learning opportunity whether they're perfect or not.