new Jolida

Sort-of. Jolida is an American company that manufactures in China. I have no personal experience dealing with the Chinese government. If it is true that they are dealing with counterfeit goods more seriously that is great. China is a major player and will continue to be. If they start playing by the same rules as teh rest of the big producers it will only increase the desirability of their goods.

Bignerd100,

Looks like we have our own thread going here.

Actaully I contacted the seller out of curiousity. He is actaully out of the UK and told me that the US would frown on him selling to the US under-cutting the market here.

But he CLAIMS to be legit.

I found "Jolida JD100S" cd player on Ebay and a few asian websites. Players looks very cool and seems to be improved version of JD100A.

Then I phoned Jolida and they said this is gray market player with inferior parts and that they are working on it to have this "stopped" (i.e. using Jolida name).

I'm not a 100% convinced that player is inferior or knock off (if you look at parts they claim to use, it's seems equal to if not better). What may be questionable is reliability & warranty issues...but don't forget likely the unauthorized Jolida is from OEM factory that makes legit Jolida's.

Also, I read in an older thread Jolida JD 100S was sold in europe/asia 2 years ago already (with no complaints)....makes me say "hhmmmm?".

Remember, Ford Focus was sold/made by Ford Europe for many years until it was released in North America?

Even if a player comes from the same factory with improved parts I don't think that I would purchase it if it is using the pirated name of another company. Jolida does take great pride in their products and is honest about their limitations vs price point. They will tell you straight up that if you are looking for the end-all-be-all to high-end 40w EL34 tube amps you should spend 3K on something else. But if you want a killer 40w EL34 integrated that an average guy can afford the Jolida fills that gap handily.

THere are any number of companies that source products from the same factories and tweek them in different ways to make them their own (Music Hall/Project for example). THey brand them differently and sometimes price them differently. They still use their own name though.

Even if a company gets their products made elsewhere (who can afford not to these days) I would prefer to buy from someone who takes some level of pride in their product.

Just my 2cents.

Hi All,
One thing to consider here is that these products will not even run in the US. Even after "converting" to US voltage, the transformers are not designed to handle our high voltage swings. I receive many calls from consumers that have bought these gray market products only to find out they fry the transformers within only a few weeks.

They are designed to run on a steady 110 volts with absolutely no variation and cannot handle our 120+ voltage.