Which is better, Jolida or Cayin?

I'll never touch a Jolida again. Had a recent JD102b integrated amp, and it was a piece of junk build-wise.

I never owned a Cayin - after the Jolida, I'm cutting a wide swath around what appear to be similar brands: Cayin, Kavent, Jolida, Dared. I've heard lots of negative quality reports on Kavent and Dared in the past couple years. Cayin is a newcomer with lots of buzz - perhaps it's a different beast? Then again, there are many many people who would say Jolida delivers good quality. I'm not one of them. In a year or two, I wonder what the Cayin owners will say?

As hard as the economic case may be, I would suggest saving a little longer and getting a Cary, or another make with a longer track record and better attention to quality. What I saw with the Jolida was enough to make me finally realize that you truly get what you pay for. These are not giant-killers.

I've seen gear from HIT Audio which looks pretty darn sturdy. The designs are Cayin, modded with upgraded parts. Prices are great.

Canadian HIT audio distributor's pics

Cayin has been selling in Europe for a few years now. There must be a track record there.

I don't know where you've heard "lots of negative quality reports on Kavent...in the past couple of years."

I don't own any Kavent, but did some correspondence with them earlier this year, so I am familiar with the company.

I Checked for the validity of your claim by doing a word search on AA and here at Audiogon of Kavent. There are no posts before March of 2004. There are no negative posts period. Fact is Kavent, which sells modified Shengya's, didn' exist before 2004.

I have a Chinese made Jungson amp, Chinese made Eastsound CDP and Chinese made Meibao stands. Needless to say I have few reservations about dealing with products from Chinese manufacturers. My reservation is be careful buying equipment from American and European manufacturers who are simply outsourcing to China. They do this to keep cost low and sometimes a cut in quality as well.

I've perty much eliminated American and European made amps and CDP's from consideration. You simply way overpay. Europeans are buying Chinese audio by the boat load because you pay 3-4X more for similar domestic equipment. We still haven't gotten over this bias here in the States.

I'm using a Chinese made Xindak SACD2 CDP and love it. No bias here. I don't even hold the people in Bangalore India responsible for the poor customer and tech support you get these days. I hold the US companies that train them to read a script responsible. Why not give them some technical training with the product and let them think on their own.

I have owned both a stock and fully modified 2b (Bizzy Bee) modified Cayin TA-30. They sound great and have excellent build quality. Paul (Bizzy Bee) is excellent!

BTW, TAS (The Absolute Sound Magazine) had nothing but praise for the TAD Cayin TA-30.

I've owned a lot of SS and tube integrated amps including some from Antique Sound Labs (Chinese), Anthem (Canadian) and a custom built unit from a highly praised American designer/builder. The Cayin was easily my favorite and had the best build quality (IMHO).

Enjoy,

TIC