looking at a jolida cd player

beat · « **on:** 30 Jan 2003, 07:39 am »

I'm not wanting to do any modifications to my next cd player (at least not right away) but I am looking into upgrading from my old jvc. I just learned how much difference there can be in players. The whole tube thing intrigues me. anybody have an opinion? Once again, I'm looking for out of the box performance.

mrtlaf · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 12:53 am »

Quote from: beat

I'm not wanting to do any modifications to my next cd player (at least not right away) but I am looking into upgrading from my old jvc. I just learned how much difference there can be in players. The whole tube thing intrigues me. anybody have an opinion? Once again, I'm looking for out of the box performance.

Just purchased a JD-110 modified by the Parts Connexion through the Graham Company and love the sound, definition and clarity the player exhibits. Getting ready to get a higher quality stereo set up to play music through. Debating between SS and Tube setups. Would highly recommend the JD-100

Mathew_M · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 03:11 am »

Second the Jolida. I upgraded my tube pre to an Audible Illusions Mod 3a and the two synergize well. My previous pre (an AMC tube) made the Jolida sound rather fuzzy and jumbled. I still need to upgrade the tubes for a little better focus but the resulting combination is very smooth and liquid (maybe a little much). I'm sure the modded version is better but I got such a good deal I'm not bothered.

Hank · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Feb 2003, 03:10 pm »

Glad I found this thread! On another forum, I asked for recommendations on sub-$1,500 CDP's that would make regular CD's sound as good as (or better?) DVD-A's and SACD's. Someone recommended the Jolida, so I read a review (excellent) and went to the Jolida web site and am very interested in it. I got a good price quote on it from SUMMIT Audio Video.

I don't mind doing internal tweaks, but would the Jolida benefit from any of the available tweaks like a new clock board, or is this player so good that tweaks won't help appreciably?

Should I start a new thread specifically for my question?

Thanks,
Hank

MaxCast · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Feb 2003, 03:17 pm »

FWIW, I have read the factory approved mods are around $500 and have a nice list of upgrades to components.

Hank · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Feb 2003, 07:04 pm »

I just read the "sixmoons" review of the Jolida and read the list of components the upgraed entails. I can buy the components and do my own upgrade if it would make a significant difference, but I'd wait for a while and maybe only upgrade the tubes initially.

eric the red · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Feb 2003, 07:30 pm »

I would recommend you A-B the Jolida side by side with a good ss redbook player if possible. I owned a JD-100 with Svetlanas in it (I had a Jolida 603A in my rig before that) for about three months before buying the Philips SACD 1000 and ended up selling the Jolida about a week after the SACD 1000 arrived. In my room with my gear and my ears, the Jolida did not provide as much detail at both low and high listening levels and I hear more of the music through the SACD 1000 in redbook mode then I did with the Jolida. I think system synergy is a big issue with tubed cd players as with my Audiomat tube amp and Paradox 3s, the Jolida rolled off the sound a little too much for my liking. Another option is to buy an SACD 1000 off Audiogon for @ 500.00 and have it modded by Stan Warren for another 300.00-400.00 at which time you would have (from the reports I've read) a KILLLER redbook player, SACD capability with excellent SACD sonics (plus a DVD player) all in one well-built, good-looking box. No matter what player you buy, a great sounding cdp will not make bad sounding recordings sound great.

Hank · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Feb 2003, 08:51 pm »

Stan, thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely consider it. I would rather do my own mods to save money - I'm capable. A mod kit would be fine. I know of at least one clock kit, maybe there's other mod kits out there.

Hank · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 03:17 pm »

Eric - I apologize - obviously I meant thank YOU for your suggestion. I will consider new/used DVD/SACD players. I was thinking they may need an outboard DAC, since DVD players have a lot of circuitry and the affordable ones surely don't have the best digital components. So, instead of a DVD/SACD and outboard DAC, I was thinking a very good CD player like the Jolida would be built with best components and not benefit from an outboard DAC. But, I don't know and have just begun my search.

eric the red · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 04:37 pm »

Check this out. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3006429516&category=3272. The guy looks like he's legit with his feedback. Some kind of grey market deal or maybe he bought them direct from the factory?

randytsuch · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 04:48 pm »

Hank
The SACD 1000 started out as a $2000 statement player from Phillips. It is discontinued, and Tweeter blew a bunch of them out for $400. That is the only reason you can find them cheap on audiogon now.

I have a Stan modded SACD 1000, and I think it's a great player. I plan to do a few more things to it myself, and see how good it can sound. One thing, you cannot add an outboard DAC, but it does not seem to need one to me. One of these days, I plan to disconnect the video output board, and see if that makes any difference.

The only problem with Stan, as Eric is finding out, is he can be VERY hard to get a hold of, and if you send him a 1000 now, it will take months to get it modded.

Randy

eric the red · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 05:39 pm »

Randy-What exactly are Stan's mods on the SACD 1000 and how did the sound change compared to the stock unit? Maybe I could get Dan Wright to do something similar because he too lives up the road. I even sent a note to Stan asking him to call or email me with and got no results.

randytsuch · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 07:42 pm »

Eric,
The biggest part of Stan's mod is a redesign of the discrete output stage. This is the part which takes the DAC's output, buffers it, and also has a low pass filter. You can set the filter to 40 or 50 KHZ.

Stan adds at least one transistor and a diode (I think), and changes values of other resistors. He also add's blackgates to the DAC/output board, if you want, and to the power supply.

Dan has his own mod, where he completely bypasses the existing output stage, and puts in his own. Based on his rep, I am sure Dan's mod sounds good too, but it more expensive too.

That's the trade off with Stan, he has a big backlog, so it takes a long time to get something modded by him, but he does good work, and his prices are cheap.

I never heard the 1000 stock, so I am not sure how much Stan's mod did for it. I am going to mod my 1000 soon, so the LR sides will output LR front information. These stages were not modded, so then I will be able to compare the stock output stage to Stan's output stage.

I am also going to try an transformer output stage, and see how that compares to Stan's output, but that is a few weeks away.

Randy

eric the red · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Feb 2003, 08:16 pm »

Thanks for the info. Richard Kerns' mods are too expensive for me and Dan's adding a tube stage isn't what I am looking for. Maybe I'll go bang on Stan's door ("Please don't shoot me Mr. Warren!!")

Hank · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Feb 2003, 01:46 pm »

Interesting input, guys. I do want to do my own mods, and a proven kit would be great - I don't mind paying someone for his experimentation/tweaking of kit contents, I just don't want to spend the money for someone to do the work.
An alternative would be to buy a Sony CD player that SACDmods has an upgrade kit for.
I don't have access to a Jolida for A/B comparisons, so it would be a risk, but the reviews and comments I've read make it difficult to resist.

Hank · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Feb 2003, 03:12 pm »

Kit price sticker shock. I sent a note to Richard Kern (audiomod.com) and asked who he recommended that will sell kits and he referred me to referenceaudiomods.com. I don't mind paying for someone to buy parts in large quantities and re-sell to me at a decent profit, and add a few bucks for part of their design time, but look at the price of their kits for Sony SCD-1 and 777ES SACD:
Audio Board Capacitor Kit ($369.29)

Audio Board Regulator Kit ($330)

Audio Board Resistor Kit ($475.52)

Audio Board Op-Amp Kit ($220)

Power Board Capacitor Kit ($411.62)

Power Board Regulator Kit ($198)

Wow! $2004.43 for all the kit packs!

Maybe I should buy a Sony SACD CD player and install a SuperClock myself and call it finished.

audiofunk · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Feb 2003, 05:45 pm »

I have had the Jolida 100 for about 6 months with no upgrades, and I could not be more pleased. The sound is smooth and musical. Even the poorly recorded Cds that I own sound wonderful.I like to play a lot of old jazz recordings with very poor production value, and the Jolida seems to squeeze all of the music out of them. You could find more detailed players, but this guy is a champ when it comes to musicality. Do yourself a favor and take a listen.

beat · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Mar 2003, 04:14 am »

well since I started this post I figure I should add, I actually thought this thread died a long time ago. Today I picked up the jolida,...dang I'm stoked with it. I was always hesitant to believe alot of the hype behind interconnects, speaker cables, burn in time, etc.. I am so stoked with the way everything has come together. After a couple days of burn in on everything I could not be happier. I love the musicality, warmth and the depth of the jolida. My marantz reciever has burned in very nicely, my shotgunned 4conductor 12ga..um "no name long grain upocc ofc" diy cables are super clean, and at the end of the chain, my diy speakers absolutely rock. Thanks to all who have helped along the way. If you all were local I'd have you over for a pint of homebrew

Mathew_M · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Mar 2003, 04:26 am »

Glad you like the Jolida. It took me awhile to come around on this player but now since I tube rolled and upgraded the IC's I'm really enjoying it. It requires some definate system matching to sound it's best too. I didn't care for it with my AMC tube pre but with my Audible Illusions and some NOS RCA's it's pretty sweet sounding.

New Mexico and hombrew sounds pretty good right now.

beat · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 Mar 2003, 05:31 am »

Hey Mathew,
What tubes and IC's did you decide you liked best? Yeah, NM is pretty nice here weather wise. This audio fixation has taken my mind off the cold and the fact that all my koi (my summer fixation) were hibernating..they just woke up this week and boy were they hungry.