Shanling, Jolida, Cary, Tube, SS can anyone compar

Hey Bill

Vinyl is still tops, despite it's negatives. Cds do nicely with good equipment. DVDA looks to me to be the future for sonic quality. I use my JD 100 in conjunction with big Pass X 600 monoblocks and a Pass pre amp too. This all feeds the infamous <1ohm Apogee Scintilla. My goal is always for natural playback, music at it's most real.

Forget JAN Phillips. Start with the Svetlana, if you can buy the 100 so equipped.

I haven't heard the Cary or Shanling and I don't care to. Given the sterling performance of the Jolida, there is no incentive for me to shell out big bucks. I owned a Jolida 603 player and it was the best under $1500 dollar cd player you could get and it cost only $600 new. Despite sounding wonderful, it did have problems with it's transport and tracking.

The new JD 100 shares nothing with the old except tubes. This is a serious audiophile machine. The new transport works flawlessly. It tracks with the best. To get to the sound, well that depends on what tubes you choose. It's hard to go wrong with the favorites. I like 5751 tubes, but most opt for one of the finer 12AX7 tubes. Many have found the Jolida to be the best CDP there is. I can't imagine any better. There are two major reviews done on the Jolida using stock tubes; check them out, but bare in mind with better tubes the reviews would have been even more spectacular.

Take the Jolida at $550, if it is mint. What tubes does it have? You might get lucky there. The Jolida was designed and produced solely for it's sound, not hype that looks good on paper. Mark Allen of Jolida told me he decided to not use the "me too" Burr Brown DAC and went for more linear Phillips chips. There are no op amps, unlike with virtually every other CDP. The circuit is very simple and fee of noticeable distortion. So many ss CDPs have that edgy sound that drives people away. Jolida has a beautifully natural playback that is so soothing. It has that spaciousness that comes with tubes and the liquid mids, smooth treble.

Oh yes, SACD. I don't like SACD. A lot of music lovers don't like SACD. When listening tests were performed on same matter music using SACD and DVDA, the DVDA clearly took the "more real" honors. I know cutting edge audiophiles that agree.

I distrust "upgrades." Putting together electronics to make a well hued sound is something of an art form, consisting of careful balancing of electronics. Mark Allen told me of how when they finished the JD 100 prorotype, it sounded too bright to their ears. After fiddling with some "upgrades" he, on a whim, flipped a resistor, and what do you know? It solved the brightness. How can I trust a five hundred dollar "upgrade" to get the sound right, especially when the sound is already right?

About the Burr Brown vs. Phillips: There is nothing in my manual that says one way or the other. Mark Allen told me he uses Phillips and not Burr Brown. Here is a portion of a Jolida 100 review:

"The JD-100A is a departure from most high end machines: it shuns the expected Burr-Brown D/A converters in favor of Philips chips. This is totally intentional. JoLida's design goal with the JD-100A was to build a CD player that was very linear, thus very listenable. This is the main difference, in my opinion, between digital and analog music reproduction. Analog, to my ears, is very linear. Many CD players tend to be bright and analytical. These players reproduce all of the detail, but they tend to be very fatiguing, especially during extended listening sessions. Listening to music should be enjoyable, not fatiguing."

So there you have it. The seller probably thought by making his claim the unit would be more attractive to a buyer. You are rapidly becoming a knowledgeable buyer.

About the tubes. Just listen and don't worry.

Fs, there is a vacuum of info on the Xindak except that is a tube unit made in China. What tech info can you provide us?