Amps which are Great, but either Unknown or Underpriced

Get yer Williamson/Ultra Linear on...Jolida rarely gets anything reviewed and consequently is one of the best kept secrets (except my grabbing any opportunity to rant about these things) out there. I have a 4 or so year old "factory upgraded" 502p amp that is the quietest (seemingly zero hum or noise even if you stick your ear on the speaker) amp I've owned including a lot of SS amps, and festooned (!) with KT150s and some nice small tubes it sounds like the friggin Giant Killer it is. The fact that these things are inexpensive seems to be the only thing wrong with them…I've spent a lot of time listening to much more expensive amps from Rogers, VTL, ARC, etc. (albeit usually not in my rig with a few exceptions) and the results are generally "meh."  Primalunas get reviewed often and although closer to the price point of Jolida's  amps, and fitted with auto bias circuits and other interesting features, they generally are less powerful than a Jolida costing about a third as much, and don't sound any better to my ears (I tried a borrowed "HP" version…when I switched back to my 502 I felt the Jolida simply sounded better, although I have no "triode" switch). 

A note about Vincent…I own a Kavent S-33 preamp that is a re-badged Vincent SA-93…not sure why they needed 2 companies selling the same stuff (Kavent is gone), but in any case it's an amazing balanced dual mono preamp with isolated power supplies on one side of the deep aluminum cladded chassis. Also, I have a good friend with one of those massive Vincent hybrid integrateds and it also is an overbuilt thing that sounds fabulous.

After reading yet another article about Primaluna amps in a major audio mag, I remain surprised that Jolida rarely gets reviewed (the FX 10 made it in someplace in recent years…but not much else) in audio mags. I assume it's due to a lack of advertising, but it remains a mystery. Primaluna amps are around 30 to 50% more expensive, and although well made and a relative bargain, these should lead buyers to Jolida which are VERY well made and sound amazing. The Primaluna amp recently reviewed in Stereophile costs maybe 500 bucks more than a higher powered Jolida that can use various output tubes and has an XLR input…biasing is done by turning a small screw from time to time. Well worth the effort, and based on my 4 plus years of experience with a factory modded 502P these things sound and perform as well as amps costing multiples of what Jolida asks.