DPA
DPA stands for Danish Pro Audio. DPA Microphones is the studio (and now live-performance) microphone division of parent company Brüel & Kjær, maker of environmental noise measurement and control products. DPA was spun off of B&K in 1992.
The following quote is attributed to Bruce Myers, President of DPA in 2005.
Bruce Myers, DPA
The designer of the original B&K mics, Ole Brosted Sorensen, became the cofounder, co-owner and Technical Director of DPA Microphones when the studio mic division at B&K was spun off forming DPA in the early 1990s. There were no changes in personnel when this spin off occurred and as a result no changes in design. In fact, the omni series mics, the 4003, 4004, 4006, 4007 and the 4041 series mics still have capsules that are manufactured for us by B&K to the original standards set down by Mr. Sorensen in the 1980s when most of the above-mentioned models were designed and originally produced.
Ole designed the manufacturing assembly line, including the clean room these capsules are still made in today…
The biggest change has occurred in our QC of the mics. The tolerances that were acceptable at B&K have been tightened considerably as well as the number of QC steps during the production and assembly having been dramatically increased as well. This simply means that some of the mics that were produced by B&K would not see the light of day as a DPA unit as they do not meet our tighter specs.
The Cardioid and wide Cardioid designs, the 4011, 4012, 4015 & 4016 capsules are also manufactured to the identical specs as the original units brought out by B&K with no change in components in the preamp design or capsule design. Truly the only difference in any of these mics are the tighter specs and increased QC steps as DPA model numbers and the logo on the mic itself.
As of 2012, B&K manufactures all the omni capsules used by DPA. Conversely, DPA manufactures all the Cardioid capsules used by B&K.
The DPA factory is located in Denmark.
