A tade more briteness - Jolida 302b. Tubes?

You can DEFINITELY add more sparkle to the Jolida 302B.

First, you REALLY have to upgrade the tubes. I recommend JJ Blue Glass E34L, and Ei 12AX7/12AU7 tubes. Others seem to also like the JJ 12AX7/12AU7.

And, I certainly agree with Howard (Boa2) on cabling. In my experience, HomeGrown Audio Silver Lace is a most wonderful cable. It's engaging, without being harsh. Bass is also of note.

Howard, I could NOT agree with you any more strongly!!!

My Jadis Orchestra Reference was a very good amplifier when I began with it. A silver power cord raised its level of performance by providing me with blacker blackgrounds, lower noise, better bass, more clarity, and more sparkle. The HGA SilverLace upped it even more. And, when I retubed with JJ Blue Glass E34L tubes, it became, in my opinion, a world class amplifier.

Should I have just accepted the performance I got right out of the box? That would have been VERY stupid. For a total outlay of less than $500, in my opinion, I raised the bar of my component from competing with $5000 competition to competing with anything. If I wanted to do that otherwise, I'd need to move into a completely different amplifier, at 2 - 3 times the price.

Glai, I think we agree on the Ei. They certainly are special. Ultimately, I did find Mullard Blackburn tubes to be clearly better than the Ei, but for about $7/tube versus $35 - $50, the value for money is with the Ei in spades. You really have to spend 7 - 10X more to beat them.