I have not known the original. But this can be a benefit, since this review is not about the original. So I can review this unbiased, and with out negative feelings about a quality loss (because I'm not saying there has been no loss. No doubt reviewers who claim this are right. Things like this happen all the time.) I gave it a reasonable rating for scent and quality, because even though it might have been great one day, the Dana stuff now is not bad. Maybe the others stuff is 20 times better, and was fantastic. But this stuff isn't that bad. It really isn't. Unfortunately it isn't great either. It's ok. It's better then mediocre, but not very good. It starts out strong, like a punch in the face. Like a drunk loudly talking to your face, it lacks any form of subtlety at first. But if you keep listening to this drunk, he calms down a bit. And even makes sense.... From time to time... After a while it gets more pleasant, slightly lighter and getting a bit more subtle. It stops being a scent consisting of only one layer. It's actually quite nice now. The stuff has descend staying power for a eau de cologne. Nothing bad, nothing spectacular. I don't remember what I paid for it. All I know is that I have a huge bottle and it was cheap as dirt, one of the reasons it found it's way into my virtual shopping cart. It's really inexpensive so if you want to try a dry, manly cologne I would say go for it, if it isn't your thing it would certainly not break the bank. From Basenotes.net: Top Notes: Citrus. Middle Notes: Mossy notes. Base Notes: Woody and Leather notes.