Ok here's my take. I've had the JD 100 for 2 years and it has not be sold. (for philes that's pretty good) I purchased the Simaudio Nova, a fine and more expensive solid state player, thinking it would displace the JD100- it did not- in my system the Sim was accurate, fast and resolved but had no soul. I also auditioned the AH Tjoeb player, the Arcam 72, the Rotel 1072. I have a Cayin player, and the highly regarded Modwright Sony 999es. The Jolida is for those who simply like music. If you are one who analyzes the sound to the nth degree this is not the player for you. It's not the most precise, accurate, fast(only somewhat understand this one), resolved player. It's a music maker. I plan to keep mine no matter which other players i own. My unit is modded by the way, which at first I did not appreciate. But now that it has lasted so long, I realize that buying a modded unit was probably the reason I still appreciate it. I use RCA NOS tubes and a Supra Lo Rad PC.
Finally, let me tell you what I've learned. The opinions and comments you read here about speakers, cables, sources, amps etc. are all, and I mean all, system dependent. You can have awesome and expensive individual components but that means nothing. Even the quality of electricity going into one person's home versus another person can effect the sonic performance. In any given system the old saying "one man's steak is another man's baloney" is true for any given component. In other words, system synergy rules. If at all possible evalutate components in your system. One fellow might have the JD 100 in his system and not care for the sonic performance. But this may have more to do with the amp and/or speakers, or the combination, rather than the JD 100. This is true of any individual component in a system. I'm one of those who believes that amp-speaker synergy is the most crucial match in any system. Without that amp-speaker synergy, the other components in your system will likely fall short of their true potential. The fastest way to learn this is to take one of your components over to an audiophile friend's place and stick it in his system and hear how it's performance can often be transformed. So remember that if a component does not work well in your setup, it make be a great component, but not in your setup. If you can't audition in your system first, which is often the case for us audiophiles, then you may have to gamble, purchase blind, and if it doesn't work out well in your system, re-sell it here and try again
Finally, let me tell you what I've learned. The opinions and comments you read here about speakers, cables, sources, amps etc. are all, and I mean all, system dependent. You can have awesome and expensive individual components but that means nothing. Even the quality of electricity going into one person's home versus another person can effect the sonic performance. In any given system the old saying "one man's steak is another man's baloney" is true for any given component. In other words, system synergy rules. If at all possible evalutate components in your system. One fellow might have the JD 100 in his system and not care for the sonic performance. But this may have more to do with the amp and/or speakers, or the combination, rather than the JD 100. This is true of any individual component in a system. I'm one of those who believes that amp-speaker synergy is the most crucial match in any system. Without that amp-speaker synergy, the other components in your system will likely fall short of their true potential. The fastest way to learn this is to take one of your components over to an audiophile friend's place and stick it in his system and hear how it's performance can often be transformed. So remember that if a component does not work well in your setup, it make be a great component, but not in your setup. If you can't audition in your system first, which is often the case for us audiophiles, then you may have to gamble, purchase blind, and if it doesn't work out well in your system, re-sell it here and try again