JoLida is a small manufacturer of vacuum tube based audiophile equipment. They’re most well known for their high quality, high value tube gear. As a tube fan on a budget, I’ve wanted to try JoLida gear for a while. An email from Mike Allen asking me to make some updates to JoLida’s product data on AudioReview.com gave me a perfect opportunity to pitch him on a review. He said no problem, what would I like to review? After some indecisiveness from me on which product to choose, he suggested the 1301A as great sounding budget amp that usually flies under the reviewer radar. I agreed, and soon I had the amp in lap.

The JoLida 1301A is a hybrid tube/solid state integrated amplifier, employing a tube pre-amp stage and a 30-watt MOSFET solid-state amplifier. The 1301A eschews frills and useless features and the big, heavy chassis we’re used to, in favor of simplicity and sound quality. You get a very small, 30 watt integrated stereo amplifier. At a very reasonable MSRP of $350, it is priced comparably to a lot of entry level, mass-market home theater receivers. The JoLida, however, could not be any more different than those cheap, plastic black boxes you find at the department store.

On the front, you see a small power switch, a blue LED, a volume control, input selector, and a balance adjust. The front fascia is a nice thick chunk of aluminum. On the back you see four line level inputs, and some nice chunky speaker cable terminals. It all makes for a spartan but cute little amp. I was excited to try it out.

I used this unit for a good period of time in my modest home office system, where it fits perfectly on my desktop, right next to my computer monitor. Music from my computer is the primary source in this system. The M-Audio Audiophile USB external USB sound card feeds an MSB Link DAC, which then supplies the JoLida with an analog signal. Speakers used were my trusty Sound Dynamics RTS-3’s, which I’ve owned for many years now, and the Polk Audio RTi4 I reviewed in October.

Enough Chatter, How Does it Sound?

The Sound Dynamics’ 89db sensitivity, smooth nature and punchy bass proved to be a very enjoyable match with the little Jolida. Bass was feisty, with plenty of tone and punch. Midrange and high frequencies were very detailed, making for a very enveloping and three dimensional sound. Even at very low volume levels, the midrange is fantastic. I was very impressed by this. Usually to get any excitement out of an amplifier, you really have to feed it some juice. That was not the case here, furthering this amps candidacy as the ideal desktop/office amplifier.

I also tested out the amp with my Big Ol’ Klipsch Cornwalls. These high efficiency speakers have a tendency to be quite revealing and picky with upstream gear. I view them as a powerful and ruthless magnifier of whatever happens to be playing through them: revealing deficiencies in bad recordings for what they are, and picky about amplification. This “magnifier” quality has turned off a few listeners in their time, and is a big reason for their controversial love/hate reputation in among audiophiles. Klipsch lovers, on the other hand, will tell you that when matched with ideal gear – like a nice low power tube amp and a turntable - they can be magic. I tend to fall into the latter camp, but I am also frustrated by their incompatibility with solid-state gear.

For this reason, I was a bit weary about mating the little hybrid JoLida with the Klipsch, but they turned out to be a nice match. I was greeted by a huge sound field that felt bigger than the room. Nick Drake’s guitar from his “A Treasury” album sounded as big as the room, and his voice floated above the right side of the room. Once again, as with the little RTS-3s, the JoLida presented a truly voluptuous midrange, begging me to go up to touch it. This combo threw a phenomenal soundstage.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good. There was an ever-present sibilance on vocals that I never heard with either of the bookshelfs i used, as well as a slightly bright and thin quality to higher frequencies. Perhaps this is a consequence of the SS/horn combination that turns some people off of the Klipsch Heritage series. Could I live with this combo long term? That's tough to say.

One negative that I couldn’t escape, with all three pairs of speakers I used, was a grainy treble. This was understandable with the horn tweeters of the Klipsch Cornwalls, but it was surprising with the Polks and the Sound Dynamics, two budget priced speakers but with very smooth and extended high frequencies. It was less pronounced with the Sound Dynamics, but still noticeable. I wonder if this is due to the 12ax7 tubes in the pre-amp stage, and if a swap might be able to alleviate this problem. Unable to acquire some replacement tubes within the review period, I am stuck speculating.

Summing Up

All in all, I am very happy with this little amp. Its small size and performance capabilities at low volume levels make it an ideal choice for your home office desktop. Add one of those new USB DACs and a pair of speakers, and you are all set with a superior desktop system. The slightly grainy high frequencies may require some experimentation with speakers and tubes. This is something to be wary about, but experimentation is also part of what’s fun about this hobby. Finally, the price. In a hobby where getting gouged is the norm, the JoLida 1301 can be had brand new for the princely sum of $350. That’s what I call reasonable. This is the same price as what you’d pay for a mediocre home theater receiver, but with a crucial difference: The Jolida sounds fantastic.