Fatman Rebranded Dared Amp
by Josh Ray, Jul 05 '06
Look familiar? This is the Fatman Tube amp that looks strangely similar to the Chinese Dared MP-5 making the rounds here in the states. Fatman is out of the UK and the only difference appears to be the grinning buddha slapped on the front and some minor input tweaks. Check out our original coverage of the Dared MP-5, the $559 tube hybrid amp with a USB input. Fatman is also pitching Dared's tubed iPod dock, again with too-cool-for-school graphics on the front.
This rebranding may be either a territorial identification or simple marketing since the Dared US website is just about one of the worst sites on the net and the MP-5 mini site is even worse. And check out eBay for a wonderful auction for a batch of ten MP-5 amps for $1790...which makes each amp only $179. Stuff like this isn't exactly confidence inspiring to normal consumers. The sad part is that the Dared MP-5 is actually a pretty cool little product, one that could potentially bring people back to high-performance audio if it were marketed correctly. Alas, another wonderful opportunity squandered.
Posted by: Rods84 at July 5, 2006 11:29 AM
You have to keep in mind that Chinese audio companies can only be competitive if they are moving volume, and so it's fairly easy to imagine a situation whereby supply handily exceeds demand and panic sets in. That's when the inventory-shedding havy discounting begins.
It's a little ironic that the Chinese products that have come to price-compete vs. the traditional brands are starting to choke each other out of the space. The existing market is too small to support too many volume-intensive manufacturers, so unless the market can be expanded into new territory the sheer volume of cheap "audiophile" goods on the market will just screw up the bottom and middle. And the market can't be expanded without a great deal of promotion, which gets very expensive and would begin to raise the COGS on the Chinese products - thus removing their one and only advantage.
The very top end will remain ok because there's no volume to be had there, so the Chinese can't really exercise an advantage in that sector.
Cheap products are like Kudzu - they'll flood the market and choke out the natural denizens, killing the ecosystem and - unlike Kudzu - they will eventually kill the sector for themselves, as well.
Posted by: majnun at July 5, 2006 11:33 AM
"Stuff like this isn't exactly confidence inspiring to normal consumers."
I think I lost you here Josh -- care to clarify that sentence a bit?
Posted by: Konstantinos at July 5, 2006 2:53 PM
Hey Konstantinos,
Having a number of different suppliers as well as brand new products showing up on the net for a fraction of their original price makes one wonder how long the company will be around, what kind of customer service is behind the product and if there are quality discrepancies between the different versions. It may all be fine, but it's undoubtedly a different sort of business model than traditional consumer electronics.
Posted by: Josh Ray [SonicFlare] at July 6, 2006 11:52 AM
I see your point now -- thank you for the follow-up.
Posted by: Konstantinos at July 7, 2006 2:23 PM
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