[chgolatin2]

Would like to know if anyone has the JD 100 level 2 by Wally from underwood.  How does it sound, warm, bright, neutral?  Does it make some of your bad cd's sound good?  I have a few cd's that in the voice dept sound good but in the music area sounds a bit harsh, poor quality recordings may be the issue.

Anyway, I would like to hear from those that actually have the  JD 100.  Wally also offers the Raysonic tube cd player but its new in the market and i dont know if it will have a good reputation in the years to come.  I just upgraded my whole tube system to Jolida 1000RC, VR2's speakers and dh labs cable products, all that I am missing is a good cd player.  My budget is $1, to $1,500

I recently had the Shanling T200 (Sold) and the STP 80 currently selling for my new upgrade. 

Thanks

[chgolatin2]

WOW?  no response

[AB]

PM me about the JD100a.

[markC]

PM me about the JD100a.

C'mon now, some of us are interested in opinions about this player.
I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

[AB]

Well, ok.

I like this player. I have a stage 2 mod in mine but I cannot honestly tell you what all has been done to it. The mod company went out of business immediately after I received the unit and I don't have any paperwork describing it. I did open it up this morning and had a look inside to see if I could remember it all.

This is what I found, multicaps in the output stage, better RCAs, 10 Hexfred diodes in the PSU and a clock upgrade. There is a bunch of chassis dampening and the transport has some soundcoat on it as well. There might be blackgates in there. There might be upgraded caps in the PSU but the big ones on the board look stock to me. I compared the unit I bought with the stage 2 JD100 Wally/Parts Connexion was selling and they were pretty close in their specs so maybe those red caps and those black caps are BGs and the little shiny resistors are upgraded tantalums too but it would take someone with more knowledge than I to tell for sure.  Yea, more knowledge and a magnifying glass. Those little caps are too small to read without one.

Oh, wait, I just looked up some pics of BG caps and these are they. That's cool. 

I have GE 5 star 5751 tubes in it now with some Herbies halos attached.

I have been playing the thing 10 hours a day for the past week or so while breaking in a new Modwright SWLP preamp. This has allowed me to really confirm what works and what doesn't work with it.

It produces a very strong RFI from its transformers that cause my DishNetwork satellite receiver to malfunction. Weird. I had to move the receiver.

This RFI gets into the preamp too if the unit is within 3 feet or so of it. The difference between having the CDP right next to the pre and having it 3+ feet away is enormous. It is smoother, quieter and there is a definite lack of grain/digital glare when it is seperated.

When I set up the Jolida and the SWLP I set them right next to each other on a cabinet and used some OEM power cord I had lying around and a pair of Monster Cable ICs I had handy to connect everything.

It sounded like crap. Really. BAD as in Denon 1710 bad. Veiled midrange, etched upper mids and with no top end. The bass was loose and muddy too.

So I swapped out the Monster Cable ICs for a pair of VH Audio Sliver Spectrums. That helped. I spent the next few days like this listening to the Jolida as the SWLP was breaking in but all in all it still sounded like crap, less veiled crap but still crap. Yes, I was somewhat concerned that maybe the SWLP was the cause of the crap sound so I plugged in another CDP  - a Parts Connexion Ultimate Denon 3910 purchased from Wally - and had a listen. No, the SWLP sounded pretty damn good so it was not the SWLP.

I still wanted to break the SWLP in for another 100 hours or so so back into the mix went the Jolida.

The SWLP and the Jolida were still side by side and the Jolida still had the zip cord like OEM power cord and it still sounded like garbage so I finally got off my lazy butt and dug out a new power cord. The good power cord - a VH Audio Flavor 1 - is shorter and would not reach the CDP where it sat so I moved it - about 3 feet away. I plugged it in and turned the system on and it was good. Really good. No hash, not much veil over the vocals, the bass tightened up and there were some cymbals again.

So there you have my JD100a story. PM me if you want to know what I really think.

Seriously, it is a nice CDP and the mods make it into a real nice CDP.

[markC]

OK, My turn...
I bought a stock JD-100 a year ago after my beloved QDS-15, (Nohr CD-1), died. I bought it sight unseen from Wally. Or is that hear unheard.
My first impression was what an idiot-I hate this thing. It sounded dead, very vieled and masked with horrible highs and flubby bass. I e-mailed Wally about this and he said to let it burn in for a while. After about 30 hrs. it still sucked. I swapped the tubes with a pair of Sylvania black plate 3 mica 5751's. A little better but not a lot. So, I started researching the mods available, and since there is a parts list published, I decided to first replace the polyester coupling caps with Sonicaps. BIG difference-this player now plays music. The coupling caps, to me, are the biggest improvement one can make to this player. I don't know what they were thinking when they used those horrid polyester caps. Perhaps it was aimed at a market that used cheap, bright, glaring amplification and speakers.
Since then, I have done a quasi level 2 mod except for the Blackgate power supply caps, the tantalum resistors, (I'm too cheap to spend $75 on 14 resistors), the silver wire and the rca's.
After doing all the other mods after the caps, I say maybe a further 10% increase in performance. A little quieter background and a little better resolution. I like this player now and would have to say that in it's current state, it's better than the QDS-15.
I'm currently running Brimar 12ax7 tubes in it that I got from KR Audio. A little pricey, but not any more than the Sylvania's are now going for. I like the Brimars the best so far out of all the tubes that I have tried.
One other thing; my transport sometimes makes a "whirring" noise that can't be heard while music is playing from the listening position, but still bugs my ass, 'cause I know it's there. I have 2 spare transports on the shelf, (it IS a Philips after all), and when it bugs me enough, I'll replace it.
So, there you have it. In my opinion it's a nice player that's well layed out inside with good quality circuit boards. If your thinking about getting one, be prepared to replace the coupling caps. Oh, and I have not experienced any RFI problems with mine.