Anyone have honest opinion of Jolida amps?

>>A few bucks more and much more the quality<<

Cayin versus Jolida? I don't think so. They are both low-mid fi imported products.

You get what you pay for is correct.

SAm XZ:"but for the money Jolida is hard to beat"
Ever heard of Cayin? A few bucks more and much more the quality. But then again you can get used Jolida real cheap used on audiogon, so if its a tight budget you have then go ahead.
But you get what you pay for.
Bartokfan

I guess it is a matter of preference. Like I said in an earlier post. Krell vs Levinson kind of thing.

>>>Cayin versus Jolida? I don't think so. They are both low-mid fi imported products.

You get what you pay for is correct.<<<<<

So what exactly am I getting if I buy a $4000 mid low fi Cayin or Jolida product?

Thanks

Had the Cayin A50 T (months) and the A88T (about 20hrs on A88) and
like the Jolida 302B better than both. FWIW.
Love my Cayin CDT- A17 cdp though. All depends on your system!

fwiw, i listen to modified 502b with rolled tubes thru my kestral 2's and the guy that says the sound is mid or low fi is off his rocker... i am not an expert in tubes per se but i can tell the difference between very good musical sound reproduction and mid fi! many tube amp owners say modifying makes a big difference and maybe this is the case here as well. nonetheless, paying $2K more for so called high end quality with half the watts sounds like money down the rathole unless you have extremely efficient speakers and or a big ego and 24K golden ears! seems to me a lot of pseudo-audiophiles think price and quality define musical sound reproduction. i'd rather ride in an older caddy than a new bmw on a cross country road trip!

Launche says
"So what exactly am I getting if I buy a $4000 mid low fi Cayin or Jolida product?"

Hopefully your money's worth.

lol :)

In December 2005 I posted about Jolida and at the time was dickering over a like-new, used 302B. I bought the unit and it has been wonderful; it is not modified, save for a Jolida mod., the subwoofer output. I am using NOS Svetlana EL34 power tubes, 1962 Sylvania 12AX7A organ pre-amp tubes and CV4024 (12AT7) military Mullard tubes as drivers. The sound is wonderful. I sold the Klipsch speakers and bought a pair of Spica TC-50i's and I am back to where I came from. Now I am looking for a subwoofer to try that out. Jolida is not easy to beat for the money. If I modified the unit it would probably surprise me, but I am curious about the new 302B that has no balance control. LED biasing and remote. That might sound even better than the current model.

I own a Jolida 202s connected to a pair of energy cb20 speakers. To be honest my Miniwatt n3 sounds richer and fuller when connected to the same speakers. I am running a sweet set of nos tubes in the n3.
maybe the Chinese tubes take a long time to burn in. I ordered nos tubes for the front-end and eh 6ca7 fat boys for the output. I ordered GE 5751 nos tubes to replace the driver tubes. They have less gain than the Chinese 12at7. I hope to hear a deeper soundstage, better frequency response and more headroom'll of what the holiday amps lack with the stock tubes. If the stock tubes take 100hrs to burn in to sound good, then holiday should burn in the tubes since these tubes are just gonna eend up as spares

Uhm.. the guy that said jolida = trash .. you obviously only used the cheap $3.00 stock tubes. I upgraded with JJECC8003s gold tubes for the preamp. USA JAN Phillips 12AT7WC for the drivers and let the stock EL34 B output tubes age a little. It sounds kick ass now!
The bass hits hard and deep, mids are crisp, highs are crisp and clear now. And the sound stage is awesome.

I tested with Mozart's Requiem last night. Unfreaking believable! The Chorus shook the house!
If you take the time to research tubes then this is a good amp to get and modify, results will blow you a way. If you just wanna unpack it and use it as a stock amp.. then it's not for you. It doesn't suck. I just think Jolida doesn't want to price the amp with high quality tubes because they would have to sell it for $1,700 or more.
I picked up mine new for $599.99 shipped. turned it on and though my miniwatt N3 sounded better. Now after I upgraded my preamp stage with new tubes and adjusted the bias for the ouput stage... I am really loving this amp.
My Miniwatt can't even come close to it now.

I play sax and blues harp. Now when I crank up a tune to jam with it sounds really good.

I've got 4 ohm Energy cb-20 speakers attached to it right now.

I owned a Jolida 202 years ago and enjoyed it, but that was before the controversy over the "Chinese" Jolida vs. the "Maryland" Jolida. I read the article that described the difference in the nameplates and what was a "real" Jolida and what was not. How do you know what you are buying and who supports it if it breaks?

I am a systems engineer. I work on my own stuff.
I have an oscilloscope, j202 schematic, and my sons claim I have "mad soldering skills".. I bought this as a decent platform to build upon and tweek. I was amazed that all I really needed to do was upgrade the preamp section to get the sound I wanted.

In my opinion, Jolida is probably the best value in HI FI audio today. And just so everyone who thinks that's absurd has more 'ammunition', I think MF is pretty close. They're both giant killers based on my direct comparisons with new Cary and McCormacks, which cost $5,000 for seperates. And I love B&W too. I've owned Conrad Johnson and Classe' gear, so I have had a well rounded sampling of 'accepted' gear that noone disputes as being HI-FI.

I have a Jolida tube cd player and it was so much better than the MF NU-VISTA side by side at my house, that my friend sold his NU-VISTA the next day and bought a Jolida cd player. Of course you have to get rid of the cheap $3 tubes. I've tried Mullards (vintage) and Telefunkens and that cd player really lit up, I prefer 1960s Mullards.

That told me that different companies each may do a certain thing well. MFs several thousand dollar cd player sucked next to Jolida's $900 model. But MF makes amazing power amps. I hear Krell does too. I had a BK 2020 which was great, but I hate their preamp I bought (and got rid of).

I still don't know why Jolida's 3000 Fusion preamp isn't talked about more. It's only $1,000, has balanced XLRs, and sounds noticably better than their Envoy, but it lacks a phono input. When I bought the Fusion and broke it in, I thought (and still think) I found the Holy Grail. I use it with a MF A3cr (I prefer a tube pre and SS power amp). So I can't comment on Jolida's power amps or integrateds. But I do know they make hybrids (tube pre, ss power), and based on their incredible cd player and preamp...I would have to at least listen to Jolida before buying anything else.

@Samzx12: I think that's the most naive' thing I've read on agon, "you get what you pay for".

To me, the best thing about audiophile gear (beside the sound) is finding gear affordable components that sound better than those costing thousands more. Stereo equipment is one of the few great items that you can buy where you can get a lot more than you pay for, if you try. Just because something has a Cary name on it's faceplate, doesn't automatically make it $5,000 'better' than less expensive gear...Thank God!

If it were that easy, there would be no discussions. Everyone would know exactly how 'good' everything is by just comparing prices. It aint that easy.

I've had a JD302CRC integrated amp since last spring and couldn't be more satisfied with my purchase. I've been collecting vinyl for 40 years and feel I'm hearing the music as it was meant to be heard for the very first time. (Rega p3-24 thru Klipsch Heresy 1's) Great build quality, good looks and flawless performance- comparable to equipment costing thousands of dollars more. U.S. models out of Jolida in Maryland do NOT come with cheap Chinese tubes. No mods necessary, why fix something that isn't broken? Two friends bought Jolida within a few days of hearing mine and now share my enthusiasm. That's my honest opinion of Jolida amps.

Sloane27 said:
@Samzx12: I think that's the most naive' thing I've read on agon, "you get what you pay for".

I would be interested in hearing about the cheaper products you listened to that bested products that were considerably more expensive.

Sloane I am not saying Jolida is crap at all. If you think I made a naive statement then so be it..LOL. I meant more expensive gear usually IS better but not always. Jolida is a great value I do agree as I have owned 3 pieces of Jolida. I liked them all but found other gear more pleasing and it was more expensive used but not by a wide margin.

I have the 1801a and generally like it very much for almost all types of music. It is a pretty robust tube amp. What I don't like about this particular model is that one must turn the amp upside down in order to bias the tubes. Very odd.

@Samzx12

Sam, my apologies, this should be a friendly forum, I never said you are naive', I doubt you are. What does my opinion matter anyway, I think the more expensive is better is 'wrong' which is a better way to say it. I'll give you a for instance. Someone was selling a $4,000 Kenwood power and preamp on craigslist for $400. I dont think he got his money's worth with the $4,000 :)I wouldn't touch it for $400.

Getting into more respected equipment: My dealer (it's an addiction I guess) alternates usually between Cary and McCormack seperates, which run $5,000. That's $15,000 for the amp and cd player. His name is John L Vandersteen, in Chicago, he was an audio engineer for some big companies, he designs and sells his own speakers now, and he explained to me the difference in cost between the components used in high end vs. extremely high end, which was not that much and ultra high end which is costly. He explained that the name plate accounts for a huge percentage of 'markup' and 'market price'. He's a respected sound engineer as best I can tell, a high end audio dealer, someone who build gear and knows costs, and has let me hear expensive stuff for many hours.

So the Cary and McCormack gear that I've heard for many hours doesn't sound 'better" to me than Musical Fidelity or Jolida gear which costs LESS THAN 1/3rd the price, it sounds different. A Cary name tag will add a certain cache', like a Rolex. More expensive usually means better, but my understanding is that the costs of the making these components is not nearly as great as the price, so a lot goes into paying for the name. If it were the R&D you are paying for, I imagine B&W (as big as they are) could never be beat based on their budget...and I bet Kenwood has a high budget too. And I think they still make crap at whatever price.

I've owned a 302b for a while now. I bought it used from another Agoner. I replaced tubes right off the bat and that made a noticeable difference. Last year I sent it to jolida to have some work done and had the recommended upgrades done. When I got it back I was very happy. I'd say for the money you get a pretty good product. I also have had many positive interactions with the staff at jolida MD. I'd recommend jolida to my friends.

No problem Sloane and I have to agree with your assessment on higher end gear for the most part. A lot of the differences in audio is the design. You can build something with decent parts and if its implemented correctly it will sound very good . Just because it costs an arm and leg doesn't mean it will sound fantastic. A Jolida amp with better tubes does improve it quite a bit. I do have to say I had a Jolida JD-100 CDP an d for the price it sounded very good and better with NOS tubes. I replaced it with a Cary 303 CDP and liked the Cary much better. The Cary was a few hundred dollars more but Cary's are designed very well. Its also how it fits in your system and personal tastes.

Owned a 2003 302B powering Meadowlark Kesrel 2s for about a year, then Vandersteen 2Ce Signatures. Then traded up to a Rogue Cronus, than to a CJ CAV50. The Jolida was OK as a entry point into tubes but if I could do it all over again I would have gone straight to CJ for the simple reason that the dynamics witht he Jolida were way too soft and laid back for my tastes. I mean tubes are somewhat polite, but the 302B was way too polite, my sense is that there was some incoherence that was the cause.

I have compared Jolida 502P and 801BRC with Conrad Johnson ( classic sixty and ET3SE)  over hours and hours. I can tell you the difference is not all that much. Jolida had KT88.  In my opinion , it is excellent value for money.

I've also done in house comparisons of my 502p (factory upgraded) to other tube amps and it has won every shoot-out against some far more expensive stuff (all relative of course, and by "won" I mean it sounded as good or better to me)…it has been an amazingly great sounding thing over the 4 plus years I’ve used it. Tube rolling fun, reliable, quiet humlessness (is that a word?), and the newer version looks cool and is maybe 1400 bucks. Great stuff. After using KT120s and 150s I returned to KT88s (matched Gold Lions from thetubestore) this year and the amp really takes to those tubes.

Wolf, you are likely knowledgable regarding the Jolida factory upgrades. I was thinking of having my Fision pre upgraded. Not sure which upgrade offers best return/$$ spent. Any thoughts?  

Mine was upgraded to whatever was offered 4 and a half years ago (only one package of upgrades was offered so the choice was easy) so It’s hard to say what’s appropriate now for your amp. Seriously, call the guys at Jolida as they’re likely to actually talk to you about it.

Thanks Wolf. I have and will talk to the Jolida people prior to having anything done. They have 4 packages for this pre I believe. IT has been my experience that they are good to deal with.

I have sold Jolida gear for 15 years now. This is a reply to an old thread, but now we can  see there are very few used Jolida amps for sale. 15 year old amps are selling for what these sold for new. You will never find a hybrid JD1701 amp for sale- Sounds much better than any SS amp at $1000 or less. The JD102 amp is very sweet with efficient speakers. You will rarely finds a hybrid 1501 for sale. People tend to keep their Jolida amps. Also, I would truly rely on  audioreview. Bob Anderson, Anderson Audio Gallery. 

I have a jolida jd1501. I’ve owned it for years. Paired with Signet sl260 speakers! No issues with the integrated amp from jolida. 100 watts into 8 ohms 175ish into 4ohms. Sounds awesome!