Jolida CDP question

Well, the Jolida is not that detailed - this is true - but it seems that it shouldn't be as bad as you describe. I felt it was very emotional and relatively dynamic although it did lack a little resolution compared to more expensive players. It could be you just don't have the right combination of components. System synergy is the key and until you get it, you won't be fully satisfied. You just may have overshot in your quest for warmth so now you need to find a player that is more in between what you had and the Jolida.

You have tried enough tweaks to warrant throwing in the towel and chalking it up as a learning lesson. Suggesting a replacement is very difficult - for me it was an Audio Aero Prima mk 2 which is far more dynamic and detailed but less coherent and warm. Good luck! Arthur

I have to agree with Arthur somewhat. Both in the fact that although the Jolida is not as transparent, detailed and resolving as other higher priced players, it is also about as warm and emotional sounding as you will find from a digital device.

Modded players will tend to make this player more SS in sound. Many have said this before in the theads and my listening to a fully modded level 2 bears this out. What I heard in increased dynamics and bass, I was horrified at the loss of warmth and sweetness in the upper mids and highs, and the narrowing of the soundstage. Your level 1 mod surely is not as pronounced, but still changes the midrange of the JD's sound.

In my system, which runs all tubes, what the Jolida may lack in terms of detail, it makes up for with its warm and textural presentation. Synergy is key, and often times not all the gear works together to get that mix of emotional conection to the music.

It must truly be dissapointing to have spent a small fortune rolling tubes in and out of the JD.and still not get what you want.

I wish I were able to recommend another player, but aside from my former Wadia transport and Electrocompaniet 24/192 DAC that had better dynamics and higher resolution and focus, yet was not as warm and engaging a sound as the lowly Jolida player..I have no real answers to offer.

I did find ( after much rolling like yourself) that the best tube for the JD in my system was a pair of Cryo'd Ei ECC-83 Gray plates from ATSI. This tube blows every NOS tube.. Mullard Cv4004. Brimar, Amperex and all the 5751's Sylvania's, RCA's and Raytheon's out of the water with a GIANT increase in transparency while keeping the midrange magic of the JD. Depth and soundstage are wide open and deep and sound remarkable from this tube.Much smoother highs are very apparent over the non cryo'd tube.

I suggest you try a pair of these for $39.00 a pair, as a last resort, and then decide if you should throw in the towel. Another suggestion would be to think about a switch to tube amps perhaps and see if that does the trick. You have a great system, but need to find the right mix to bring the emotion and transparency in the same room. Sorry I could not be more helpfull.

Best of luck--Ken

Sfrounds,

It’s tough hitting that just right balance! I spent about 6-9 months trying to figure out which way to go for my digital front end. At various times I thought about going with a modified Music Hall, Jolida, Shandling, or keeping my CDP and going Benchmark or Bel Canto. Fortunately, I had several bids for used equipment turned down, which gave me more time to read and think about what I really valued in sound qualities. My existing system erred on the side of too much detail and resolution. I could experience incredible and quite lovely reproduction of the upper harmonics of a flute, but ear drum piercing upper harmonics with a piccolo. Boring it was not! Unfortunately, warm and sweet it was also not! Out of all of this thinking and biding, I began to think about all the hype on the filterless non up-sampling DAC's. I was hearing people talk about stuff like pace, imaging, warmth, detail, etc. It seemed like these DAC's were delivering a really good balance of attributes that I really value. I also noted that they tend to be really inexpensive, and I could always resell or perhaps add a Benchmark DAC and keep both. There are a number of inexpensive but well received filterless 16 bit DAC's out there. I decided to give the Audio Mirror DAC a try, and I've been very happy with the decision. No second thoughts at all. Maybe something like this would strike the right balance for you.

I'm wondering about a few things. You said that the SS DAC was bright but transparent. I consider a transparent component to be one that has no apparent influence on the sound. What do you mean by transparent? You mentioned that the JD-100 has no transparency. What effect is it having on the music that would make you say that it is not transparent?

If I could go out on a limb, I would say that you might be looking for something that is not as bright as your SS DAC but not quite as far away from that as the JD-100 is.

Just out of curiousity, what was your other transport/DAC combination?