this review is actually for the FX DACIII. The CD player is discontinued now. I did not see how to write a new review for the DACIII. I got an FX DACIII from Petery-Hedden Co. and those guys are great to deal with. I got a factory upgrade one. Wow is all that I can say. I have heard a lot of stuff over the years, but this outshines any records or turntables I have ever heard. This is smooth, detailed, refined. Nice bass, cleans up the highs, and it is pleasant sounding. I used a Sony 5 disc player with a USB port on the front. I have all my CDs copied to USB flash drives. Now I can play from the flash drives and set for shuffle. Days of music shuffled. Now running the CD player through the DACIII I get the sound I have wanted. Wonderful. Get one of these DACs. Same DAC that was used in the CD player. I love the Jolida amp and DACIII together. I am listening to music all the time now.

Liquid mids, large sound stage. This cd player cannot be beat for the money. It is better than most players on the market 5 times its price point. The one upgrade I would suggest is replacing the stock tubes with a pair of NOS Mullard 12AX7A's. The sound becomes even more glorious and detailed. The build quality far exceeds the price point. No attention to detail is overlooked. I am still trying to figure out how Jolida can offer such a good player at this price point and still be profitable.

Great soud stage, sweet mid tone , and clear high tone. Bass is ok and response fast. Powerful enough to drive my dynaudio 62.
Warm ing it up for 30 mins, it sounds even better ( more soomth and warm).

Only one small problem, the knob and swithes don't work soomthly if the amp stops using for one month or longer.
But this problem disappears when you let the amp work for a hour.

My California Audio Labs Icon II Powerboss had stopped working and was going to be expensive to repair so i set out to find a replacement. I first tried the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C V1. A decent player for the money but not even close to the CAL. I sold the Cambridge and decided I would have to spend more to get the sound I wanted. I bought a Arcam Diva 82T and really liked the ergonomics, but found the sound very dissopointing. Very sterile with a small soundstage. I decided to try the Jolida JD-100A. I liked it better than the previous 2 players right away. Warm sounding with a big soundstage. I had the stock Chinese tubes in it and decided to try upgrading to new production Mullard Cryo-treated tubes which sounded different but not really better. Then I decided to try some NOS tubes and got a good deal on some GE 5751 from the 60's. Wow!
What an improvement! Soundstage was no bigger, but detail and bass improved dramatically. The great thing about this player is by changing Tubes you can change the sound (drastically in some cases) and fine tune it to the components it's matched to. I highly recommend this player! Much better than anything else I've heard in it's price class.

Strengths:
Big smooth open soundstage. Fantastic on female vocals. Very balanced sound that can be fine-tuned by changing Tubes.

Weaknesses:
NOS Tubes sound better than the new production Tubes and allthough they are a great upgrade to this player can be quie expensive. But look around and you can get a great deal. I only paid $ 25 for a pair of GE 5751 NOS Tubes and the improvement was unbelivable. In my IMHO a much better buy than $ 350 NOS Mullards, which are very nice.

This unit has transformed previously unlistenable CD's into something which is enjoyable. I would suggest that anyone that is curious about whether tubes are all they are cracked up to be to demo them at a local high end retailer. One of the best purchases I have ever made.

I usually don't badmouth dealers unless they really deserve it and so I would like to relate my experience with
the PARTS CONNEXION which is run by Chris Johnson in Burlington Ontario. I live a few miles from him and was looking forward to dealing with him. He assured my that he could sell me an unmodified unit but eventually changed his mind in the most cowardly way by refusing to return my calls once it probably sunk in that his profit margin would be lower. So sad, no returned calls or emails, and just because he was ashamed and realized that he misled me. Will report to Better Business Bureau. Hope he goes under for lying to customers. I will spread this account on every forum I visit. Every action has an equal reaction Chris! Shame on you.

Wonderfully smooth and coherent sound from top to bottom, with great bass. Plug it in and forget about it convenience . Price. May be the last audio components you will ever need.

Might leave you feeling guilty about the price you paid for such fabulous sound.

The Jolida JD-1501A solid-state/vacuum tube hybrid integrated amplifier and Jolida JD-100A vacuum tube CD player. I purchased these components as a pair so the context of this review reflects the use of both units.

This is the combo that will have all the big-rig makers afraid. Three reasons: first, they are made in China. Second, they are inexpensive. Third, and most importantly, they sound awesome! Well, I can add a forth to this list; they are very well made, too.

No need to wax over what other reviewer’s have already said, except to add that this paring has replaced an “all-tube” USA made, mono-block system valued at over $5K. I have absolutely no regrets in selling off the mono system; I only wish I had stumbled upon these Jolida’s before shelling out all that green.

If, like me, you have grown tired of perpetually swapping out audio gear, then this is the system for you. It’s one that you can simply set-up and immediately start enjoying the music with. Forget about the “high-end” components. Rubbish! This system makes music, plain and simple.

From top to bottom this system delivers. It is transparent, dynamic, and the bass on my Vandersteen 1B’s has never sounded better. Right out of the box they sounded fabulous, but give them some break-in time and everything opens up and smoothes out.

I experimented with different tubes and found that, for my ears and liking, a pair of Amperex 12AU7’s (yes, 12AU7’s can be used) in the amp and Penta Labs 12AX7’s in the CD player sounded best. Your results may vary, so experiment to your heart’s content. There’s no wrong combination.

I am very pleased with these two Jolida products and they will be with me for a very long time. And, the nicest thing is that I was able to purchase a 50-inch plasma television with the left over money from the mono amp system sale!

Customer Service

First rate!

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list, and most were over priced and over hyped.

-With the tube design, it sounds very musical and engaging.
-Can be further improved via tube-rolling (I just started doing it)
-Under a $1000 new and when the purchase goes right, a used model price is a steal.
-Solid remote piece. Will not fall and break or chip so easily.
-Remote features ie. Random which some high-end players don't have now.
-Reads and plays CD-Rs immediately and without a problem.
-Headphone jack output for latenight listening.
-Player has its own volume control for Headphone jack so you directly without any amp whatsoever.
-Solid casing and weighty which always helps in eliminating any unforeseen eternal vibration.
-Matches very well with Jolida's 1501A Hybrid or 302B tube amps.

-Does not upsample or identify HDCD cd's as such if that really matters.
-Basically nothing to speak of at this price-point.

I am very pleased with this cd player. It is very engaging. It is very detailed and does voices very well. It was able to bring the excitement of Who's Next out where I had to hear the whole Cd non-stop. It is engaging as in bringing you into the groove when I hear James Brown's Foundations of Funk. You just get lost in the music. Also, buying it used, it was the least expensive cd player of all the players I ever had new or used in my home.
It has a solid remote that will not break or lose its imprint with hand use.
It does have random, repeat one and repeat all which all I use and find that spices up the musical listening session all the more.
I am speaking of stock model. I did however change the 12ax7s in it to the Electroharmonic 12ax7 that offer a more revealing even brghter edge and with tube amp already in use, it is nice to balance out the warmth and add these tubes here at the source of things.
It will also benefit from your favorite interconnect to open up the sound even clean it up more. I used a Tara Lab Prism 2200 to achieve this.
If you are like me and like the quickness of the 1501A or the bloom of the 302B and thought hard about what cd player would have the same consistency with these amps, I found out the JD100 is the one! They sound VERY well together.
Glad that I saved some money on the purchase and very happy with my system now, I needed to pipe up and say so!

Customer Service

Purchased used.

Similar Products Used:

Cary 308T, 308, Arcam FMJ23, Meridian 506, Naim 5i, Rega Apollo, Arcam CD92, 62T.

Sound overall is great. Midrange to die for! Build quality! Remote is metal!

Power light is too bright.

An excellent player to put warmth in an otherwise neutral to slightly hot top end sounding system. Out of the box the player sounded very good. The mids were as smooth as any really expensive CD player I've heard. High end is crisp with no hint of digital harshness. Bass is pretty good. Maybe not quite as locked in as the krell CD300 I had in my system. I'm not sure I believe in break in but if the player gets any better in the next month or so I'll be even happier. Female vocals are dreamy smooth and warm. Guitars sound so real as if they are in the room. The high end is just incredible. Zero listener fatigue!!! The best I can do to discribe the sound is slightly on the warm side of analogue.

My other equipment is

outlaw 990 pre/pro (www.outlawaudio.com),
acurus A250 pwr amp, (out of business)
magnepan mmg's (www.magnepan.com),
art of sound custom sunwoofer (www.artofsound.net)

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Krell cd 250, 300, Theta digital miles, california audio labs tercet, acurus cd 11, marantz se67, etc.

Build quality, tube midrange, value, no upsampling

Ridiculously bright blue light. No rhythm.

Very overhyped product has me scratching my head. Yes, tubes do impart a rich, startling midrange, however at a loss of treble refinement and extension. Bass is full and pretty darn good, the problem with the CD player is PRAT. There is No "Drive" to the beat of rock music. Tube rolling is a mixed bag. Everything sounds slightly better than the stock (in my unit) Sovteks, but NOS sylvanias sound no better than the new and cheap ElectroHarmonix, IMHO. (I evem tried vintage RCA blackplate 5751's, no better either). Save your money. Problem with my system may be too many tubes, with tube preamp, and Jolida tube CD player. Maybe just one or the other would be better. I will have to borrow a SS preamp and experiment. I am hooked on female vocals and jazz with this unit, but if you want to rock out, forget it.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Numerous

Smooth sweet sound, transparent and dynamic. Competes well with players costing much more.

First sample didn't work, but the replacement has been perfect.

The first sample failed when turned on. The replacement has worked perfectly. Fast disc access! Smooth, sweet and transparency, but also extended and dynamic. Great soundstage! Gets down to the emotions of the music. Balance very natural but needs a while to break in (lower mids were a little lean out of the box). Not synergistic with Thiel speakers; much better with Paradigm Reference. One of my two favorite budget players - the other being the new Marantz 8001 (has fuller mids and bass but soundstage not as palpable or deep). Both players appear to be better built than the competition - both weigh close to 20 lbs and have hefty power supplies. My engineering friends tell me weight is a good indication of quality, not only in amps but also in CD players because of the importance of power supplies. Chunky remote - don't drop it on your foot.

Customer Service

Excellent. The replacement unit arrived within a week.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, Rotel, Pioneer