Anyone have honest opinion of Jolida amps?

No problem Sloane and I have to agree with your assessment on higher end gear for the most part. A lot of the differences in audio is the design. You can build something with decent parts and if its implemented correctly it will sound very good . Just because it costs an arm and leg doesn't mean it will sound fantastic. A Jolida amp with better tubes does improve it quite a bit. I do have to say I had a Jolida JD-100 CDP an d for the price it sounded very good and better with NOS tubes. I replaced it with a Cary 303 CDP and liked the Cary much better. The Cary was a few hundred dollars more but Cary's are designed very well. Its also how it fits in your system and personal tastes.

I have compared Jolida 502P and 801BRC with Conrad Johnson ( classic sixty and ET3SE)  over hours and hours. I can tell you the difference is not all that much. Jolida had KT88.  In my opinion , it is excellent value for money.

I've also done in house comparisons of my 502p (factory upgraded) to other tube amps and it has won every shoot-out against some far more expensive stuff (all relative of course, and by "won" I mean it sounded as good or better to me)…it has been an amazingly great sounding thing over the 4 plus years I’ve used it. Tube rolling fun, reliable, quiet humlessness (is that a word?), and the newer version looks cool and is maybe 1400 bucks. Great stuff. After using KT120s and 150s I returned to KT88s (matched Gold Lions from thetubestore) this year and the amp really takes to those tubes.

Wolf, you are likely knowledgable regarding the Jolida factory upgrades. I was thinking of having my Fision pre upgraded. Not sure which upgrade offers best return/$$ spent. Any thoughts?  

Mine was upgraded to whatever was offered 4 and a half years ago (only one package of upgrades was offered so the choice was easy) so It’s hard to say what’s appropriate now for your amp. Seriously, call the guys at Jolida as they’re likely to actually talk to you about it.