What's better than the Jolida JD100

There are no op amps in the Jolida. That said, at a minimum, one has to change the stock Chinese tubes and upgrade the power cord to begin to get decent sound from that CDP.
Merganser

Very true!!!

when i owned the jolida, i replaced the tubes with nos 12ax7, 12au7 and 12ay7. i used a variety of ac cords. the player was on the harsh side. it is not tube sensitive.

Mrtennis,

I'd have to respectfully say that your issue lay elsewhere. The Jolida is one of the most responsive units out there to changes, be it tubes, cords or board modifications. As for harshness, I haven't found that to be the case at all (stock or otherwise), but I did note that seems to be your opinion about CDP's in general.

Is the Jolida the end all of CDP's? No, not even close. In stock form, for the money, with different tubes and power cord it is a decent unit.

I modified mine, heavily. Is it as good as my reference? No, but it does sound pretty damn good in my office rig.

I've had two (long story) JD100s and liked them. With nice tubes it is a very good cd player though not very detailed. I have since gone through several others and ended up with an Audio Aero Prima mk2. Wonderful player - the best I have heard in my stereo so far and not nearly the most expensive. You can get one for $1k used. It is much better than the Jolida player in basically every way.

Arthur

Based on his comment on the Jolida and also on subwoofer coherence with Magnepan 1.6/QR I agree that MrTennis does indeed have issues with his system and most probably his listing room.
I've been experimenting with SVS and Martin Logan Abyss subwoofers with the Maggies and have come to the rather obvious conclusion that room tuning is 90% of the formula. That said I've come to some reasonable results with the SVS and even better ones with the Abyss. Since nothing is broken in yet, I have not posted results.
Regarding the mids and highs of various players, the room plays a dramatic part. I've read enough of MrTennis posts to see that his experiences with some gear runs counter to others on the whole. That usually suggests a poor listening room, one with few or no treatments and several windows.

Here are a few picks of my (still under construction theater and listening room. Room is 25X15 aprox. Front wall is curtains and there are foam panels behind the screen. I've yet to experience any reflection issues, though I'm trying rear treatments as well.

http://ghostlight.zenfolio.com/p280561067/?slideshow=1

Cheers