The Jolida 601a is one of the very best sounding tubed CD player available at any price and easily bests almost all players in todays market and certainly bests the current Jolida models in quality of sound. This CD player is an avatar freak of nature of sorts. The construction is terrible with cheap sheet metal (although it has a reliable CD platter with exception of a rubber belt that wears out and is cheaply and easily replaced by owner). However, the heavens rolled the dice and took an old Intel processing chip and some funky parts and came up with an acoustic masterpiece that is the Jolida 601a.

Its sound is the near perfect balance of lush and detail, leaning toward the lush side. The slightly pronounced warm midrange makes singers and instrumentals sound twice as good as they are without obvious coloration. There is nice midbass bloom also and detailed yet delicate highs without a trace of harshness.

Very relaxing and fun to listen to. It avoids the dryness of the expensive Ayon CD players and the dull mushy output of Conrad Johnson CD players for a quality yet fun listening experience that should only come from players costing $3,000 (and rarely does).

Of course your system, synergy, and preference come into play. Although in my system the 601a bettered the Cary 308T, a friend of mine likes his Cary 308T (which is another freak of acoustic nature). The sound of the much better constructed Cary 308T is also lovely and just a touch more forward and detailed sounding than the Jolida 601a. More detail highs means a little less pronounced, although still wonderful sounding, midrange of course. However, he felt the Cary 308T and the Jolida 601a both bested his Cary 303/300 ($4,000 retail).

If you get to look inside the Jolida 601a by the way, the one with a dozen or so small black Japanese Chemicon capacitors populating the main board sounds much better than the earlier 601a with the cheap Chinese off label blue caps populating the main board. Do not use the smaller tube holding output board for this comparison.

Old Jolida 601a are hard to come by as people tend to keep them. But when they sell they usually sell cheap because the drawer might have stopped working (usually only needs a cheap easy to install by self belt, but not always), they don't have many reviews, look cheap, and people often buy into unearned pedigree, name, and appearance rather than trust their own ears.

If you can find one, even with a non working drawer, buy it. They sell at a bargain, and are woth so much more. My favorite tube in them is the Mullard 12AT7 (can replace the 12AX7 as is in tube output stage). The best Mullard 12AT7 by my ears has the old Logo and two little thin wing type plates with a single small square rectangle when looking at the broad side of the plates (instead of two like others), and does not have the three small holes on the edge of the plate which you can only see while looking at the edge. If you want an even lusher sound, an RCA black plate 12AT7 is a good option, however in my system, it made the Jolida sound a little too lush and lost a little too much detail with the RCA's in place.

Beauty of sound and naturalness. Entirely tube output, no op amps in output path. Great sound for a minimal investment. Jolida has been very helpful in answering questions.

Does not look "hi-tech". Remote is a bit flakey--but my universal remote learned the codes and I use that instead, without any problems.

Last year I discovered how great tube equipment sounds, and I have been replacing stuff in my system. Saw the Jolida JD601A in an ad and started doing the research on it, reading the reviews here and elsewhere. Decided to purchase as it was in excellent condition and not expensive. I am very, very happy with my decision. Using the info in the reviews here, I upgraded the power cord (hard-wired Asylum power cord), used sound-damping material inside the chassis and put Black Diamond racing cones underneath. Am using Electro-Harmonix 12AX7-EH tubes. The sound is beautiful, detailed, and both speed and pacing are great. There is a beauty and naturalness to the sound that I didn't experience with the Heart CD6000 and AH! Tjoeb 4000 that I auditioned. In my hearing, of course. The $300 used price and the low cost of tweaks have made this a great value. The Jolida JD601A has been described as the player that "looks cheesy (like a mass market player), but has blown audiophiles away." It is a great addition to my audio system.

Similar Products Used:

Various solid-state players. Heart CD6000 and AH! Tjoeb 4000.

radical improvement of whole system

this unit - base

Bill Baker of Response Audio helped me get over my fears the Jolida's base response wouldn't measure up. I have a 603 on order from him. I can't wait.

I listened to a tweaked 601 hooked to my system (Bryston pre, B&K 4420 amp, Apogee Stand speakers.) I was running a Sony ES and felt my system could be best described as a very good stereo system. An AB test of the two cd players wasn't neccessary. the Jolida walked away a clear winner. the only place the Sony bested the Jolida was in coaxing the most out of my base panel. This Jolida still had its stock Chinese tubes.

Bill told me the Jolida's performance is dependent on peripherals and the tweaking might have contributed to the base problem, depending on what was done. He told me his experience with Jolida players has shown no weakness in the base. Thats good to know.

The B&K has been likened to as being tube like. I didn't know until with the Jolida - it certainly does. the owner of the Jolida uses all tubes in his system. he told me I was well under way having a great system and that if those were his amps he wouldn't change a thing.

I have to say, I've listened to a number of expensive high end systems and that mine is competitive with most and better than some using the Jolida. I can't wait for my 603 from Response Audio.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Sony90ES

Smooth, easy to listen to sound. Low cost

Long response time to scan or change tracks.
Stock tubes need upgrading.

I bought a demo of the 601 that had been on the floor for
6-8 months. I was looking for a CD player in the $450-$600
range and had heard good things about Jolida's sound and
value. First I took the Marantz CD 67 SE home. The salesman at the shop told me "This is the one you'll want" After
listening to a few discs, I called my wife in to listen.
She echoed my thoughts.."It's too bright, let's put on a record" That says it all about the Marantz in my system.
Then I took the Jolida home..WOW..It sounded like a combination of vinyl and CD. The Jolida made me want to keep putting on more CDs, not run screaming from digital
brightness! On classical recordings the Jolida has a nice
deep soundstage and great midrange smoothness. After 3 or 4
months I bought some used Telefunken tubes on ebay and as
others have noted, the bass is much better and the balance
across the entire frequency range is more even, it
now sounds even more like music. It may not be everyone's
cup of tea, but it is just what I was looking for. At $425
I don't think you can beat it.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CD67 SE

3-D realism, cost-performance ratio

build quality, stock tubes

GREAT SOUND - rich, smooth, detailed! Will give it 4 stars due to lousy build quality. Be sure to replace the stock Chinese tubes to eliminate coarseness from the sound (I'm now using a pair of Joint Army-Navy 12AX7WA's, which also tightens up the base). Excellent value for the money!

I bought the Jolida JD601A a few weeks ago for $389 and have been very happy with it's sound. I wanted to spend $300-500 on a new player (I'm not made of money, but I'm fairly discriminating, which made my search for a new player long, but fun!). I first heard about the JD601A tubed CD player on the web, and I had to call the company (in Annapolis Junction, MD) to find a local distributer.
I compared the JD601A to models by Sony, NAD, Marantz, and Parasound. I was not impressed with the Sonys at all, the NADs were OK, but a little on the dark side, and somewhat uninvolving. The Marantz CD-48 was nice, but weak on the bottom end (probably due to the variable output circuitry). The Parasound CDP1000 was my hands-down favorite strictly in terms of sound quality. No other player could match it's depth of image, overall tonal balance, and ability to handle complex passages. During Summer, the Tempest movement (powerfull, even violent rendition by Herbert Von Karajan, Berliner Philharmonic, Deutche Grammophone) I had to resist the temptation to run for cover! But my demo unit had serious skipping problems, and after doing some research on the web, it seems this is typical for the CDP1000 and not completely addressed by the company). So sonically, the Jolida was my second choice, but almost as good as the Parasound (and over $100 cheaper).

Vocals on the JD601A are very smooth - never fatiguing, even at high listening levels. Bass response is deep and smooth, and I was able to hear low level bass detail that was not picked up by the Sony, NAD, and Marantz players (though the Parasound was still best in this regard also). Soundstage width and depth are average, or slightly better than average for this amount of money, with images locked firmly in place.

I like the smoothness of the player, especially on vocals. Overall, I think it is a great buy. I'm told the tubes should last in excess of 20,000 hours and are inexpensive to replace. The only detractor might be that it does not include digital outs, but this would defeat the purpose of a tubed CD player anyway.

Good depth for a CD player. Excellent stage width.

Cheaply built, original tubes need to be changed for best sound.

The 601A is a mid-fi CD player with high end aspirations. One of its major faults are the original Chinese 12AX7 tubes that the unit is supplied with. The player also has to much output and is not dynamic enough. Out of the box the players sound in a nutshell is like listening to old tube equipment that was designed in the sixties, the sound is turgid and slow but pleasant. The player can be improved by swapping the original 12AX7 tubes. I found that with experimentation that the tube that sounds the best in the unit is not a 12AX7. The trick is to install NOS 12AU7A or JAN 5814A, they have the same electrical characteristics of the 12AX7A but have a lower gain. When the tubes are replaced the player sounds much faster and there is a reduction in output. I also found that putting the unit on something hard improves the speed, I use a custom cut piece of corian countertop. Also the sound is improved in the width of the lateral soundstage by putting the unit on VibraPods under its feet. I can only recommend the unit under these conditions of use. I also had problems with the first two units that I tried with mistracking and errors. The third unit has been working flawlessly for over one year. CAUTION!!!! Jolida is a very flakey company to deal with so view that with a grain of salt

I got to audition the Jolida JD601A today. Well, first thing that I always look at, before even putting my CD in the drawer is the way the unit looks. And this one looked crappy, and I mean it. The worksmanship on the knobs and the drawer itself is just plain terrible. It looks like some cheap mass-made shlock. And the quality of the build is important, you know. My old Technics looks a million times better and is build more solidly. This one looks like it's going to fall apart any moment. Now, the sound - the vocals are mushy, solo instruments seem to be OK, but when it comes to orchestral music - that's another story. It seemed like all the instruments were recorded with one mike from below the table somewhere. This was a demo that a dealer was giving away for around $280. After listening to players in $1000-1500 range this one seems to fail in every category. I can't really bring myself to saying that in it's price category it's all right because there isn't any meter inside my head that distinguishes the prices on different brands and models. It's either bad, lifeless, distorting or - vibrant, colorful and desirable. And that's the bottom line in selecting a component. In my opinion it makes more sense to save money for a few months and buy a reallly interesting CD Player, than to throw away a couple of hundred bucks and be disenchanted. And how could I've thought that something that costs $300 would sound good?! Yet another disappointment about the budget-priced gear. Too bad for Jolida, I have their SJ502A Integrated Amp and it's fantastic. I'm giving it 2 stars because it does play music.

This is an exciting player, let me tell you. I have done alot of listening to sub-thousand dollar players and this one I feel to be the best value amongst all of them. In some ways, it is not only the best value, but the best player. The problem is, it's not the best player in every criteria of what you'll want in a player.
Every player I've listened to in the under $1000 category have had plusses and minuses, some more than others. The list of players I've heard include the Rega Planet, the Arcam 7 and 8, the Audio Refinement, the Marantz 67se, the Parasound CDP-1000, the NAD 512, the entire Rotel line, a couple of Denons and, of course, the JoLida.

To give you a little perspective, I'm a fan of analog. Yes, it takes a bit more time and effort than the plug 'n play of CDs, but I feel the better fleshed out character of analog is worth the effort. I generally find digital lacking in warmth and 3 dimensionality of instruments/vocals. I kind of liken it to the images in those Viewmasters. Yes, there are layers of images, but each layer is quite flat. You didn't have a sense of roundness or depth to any character in the view. So this has been my perception of digital up to now, so I have refrained from purchasing any good digital player, preferring, on my budget, to get a very good analog front end (VPI table with Glider cartridge).

Even the much touted Rega Planet, while exhibiting a bit of sophisticated harmonic texture and having quite a nice deep soundstage, lacks slam that some other players have, including the Parasound which has the most slam of any player I've heard under $1000.

Let's start with what the JoLida doesn't do, to get it out of the way. It doesn't have startlingly sharp detail, nor does it have a great sense of pace and timing. The bass is a little soft, which adds to the lack of pace and timing. It also won't knock your socks (or hose) off with any slam. What it does have is extraordinary depth of character to instruments and voices. Every image is rendered with a full body, like a woman out of Playboy, but truly rendered in tangible 3 dimensions. Lovely and voluptuous. There is also a very deep soundstage rendered with very nice specific imaging. The inner harmonic detail is rendered quite well and micro-dynamics, that is the slight swell of an orchestra or the bend of a note from a string bass. All these subtleties are rendered. It, basically, has the plusses and minuses of tubes, as the output stage has two of them, as JoLida chose to amplify the signal with digital rather than tubes.

All in all, if you're willing to forgo the slam, this player will really make the music you listen to quite compelling, even seductive. If you want slam bam rock 'n roll, you'll want to look elsewhere.

This is a hell of a player for $450 (you can do this one for $380 or so, though). At that price, it's a no-brainer. It will do everything that the NAD does and much more. When you're up into the near $1000 category (from the Planet on up), you should atleast listen to this one. There are some things this one does better than the others and this may just turn out to be your cup of tea.

One warning, this unit took quite alot of break-in time before the detail and soundstaging that it has was evident. When I first listened to it, the imaging was poor and it had little soundstage. It had that tube harmonic richness right from the start, but it didn't evolve into the fairly complete player that it is until about a week of being left on straight. When you audition it, make sure you are listening to one that has been thoroughly broken in. You will be in for a surprise at what a $400 Cd player can offer.

I'm saying four stars in all, but it's 5 related to the value. Ultimately, it ain't perfect, but it's so much better than I've heard at that price that I've got to put the stars out for it.

An update to my review below. I replaced the output tubes that came with the unit with some used Telefunkens that I got relatively cheaply ($30 for the pair). This did wonders for the sound. Suddenly the slow mushy bass got really tight and the mid-range cleaned up considerably. This is now a very fine unit. Still perhaps not as detailed as some players, nor as quick, but most things come out sounding quite natural and lovely and fairly 3-dimensional. Not like my analog setup, but this player is almost the equal of the Rega Planet. It certainly is in that category of player in terms of sound. If anyone wants an "undigital" sounding digital player, this is strongly worth considering.
By the way, as far as the comment from someone regarding build quality, it ain't Da Vinci, but it works fine. It may be ugly, but you throw a bag over its' head and noone listening would need to know that it looks the way it does. It sounds terrific. Meanwhile, the new 602, which replaced the 601, looks much better and comes with a digital output for eventual upgrade purposes. The new one also comes with a headphone jack.