Modified Jolida JD100A or Cary Cd308T

YES! In all respects the Cary is better.

I had the Jolida with tube upgrades. It is dynamic, detailed, bright, large but flat soundstage, and rough around the edges. It remindes me of a Rotel on tubes.

The Cary uses better transformer and parts, more like a moded Jolida.

HDCD makes a big difference.
The Cary will upsample on the fly.
The Jolida has the Burrs Brown 1716 DAC and the Cary has the much better 1704u DAC.
I find the Cary and Jolida sounds best when left on all the time.

I have the non-tube version and it is still better than the Jolida. The 308 can be upgrade to the 308T for the differnce in cost at a later date.

Mike

could you switch the 1716 for the 1704u in the jolida without making any other adjustments to the unit?

Unlikely Arthur. Anyway, I am pretty sure the Jolida uses Phillips DACs, not Burr Browns.

The Jolida uses a Philips transport, but uses the 1716 DAC

I haven't heard the Jolida, but I do have the Cary 308-T and its a wonderful CD player. I was pretty much all set to buy a Jolida and had saved a bit more than I needed. But I decided that I really did want HDCD. So I researched the Cary and WOW great reviews, terrific specs, and wonderful features.

I saved a bit more, and bought a 308-T on A'gon about a month ago.

I couldn't be happier with the sound, the build quality and the features. It's a great CD Player.

Paul Green