I'd like to thank all of you for your honest, sincere, and proffessional advice. Your recommendations are exactly the information I was hoping for.
Aball - I have been looking at the Audio Aero Prima 2 for a month now. I was also told by someone else that this player may be one of the only tubed players that would do the trick for me, within my budget. I emailed a dealer yesterday to see if it was possible to get an in home trial, or be able to return it with a re-stock fee if it doesn't work out. The thought of spending 2K for another player, and taking a loss selling it, is what has held me back. Thanks to you, I feel more confident and seems worthy of a trial. Thanks
Kehut - I have not tried the Ei tubes you recommended, and it will be my first experiment since the cost is so little. I cant break apart and address everything you mentioned, but are in agreement with your observations.
The Jolida does have some wonderful attributes like you mentioned. I guess the emotion thing is ones personal taste by what gets them excited to create goose bumps.
Hopefully, the tube change will make improvements to my system. It is definately worth a try! Thanks for your help!
Brownsfan - You have exactly described my system with my old front end, and I too was in search to add some warmth and balance for the same reasons. I smiled when I read your remark "boring it was not" This is exactly what I was trying to describe, and have completely lost. Which, appealed to me, but was sometimes too overwhelming. I will say this though, I listen to lot more cd's in my collection using the Jolida than I did with my old front end. Just about all my cd's are tollerable using the Jolida, but they are just sort of lifeless. So it appears I went from one extreme to the other, and are looking for something in the middle. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten such good feedback from knowledable people. I have looked at the Audio Mirror dac 100 times and havn't bought one. This may be what I'm looking for. I intend on buying the tubes Kehut mentioned first, then the Audio Mirror would be my next step, then if all else fails, I will try the Audio Aero Prima. I'm putting it in this order due to expense.
Ketchup - I believe your observations may be correct. But, before I answer your question, let me explain about my audio knowledge so I dont end up looking foolish. I'm 50, listened to music all my life, and was a musician in my early days. I do in fact know what sounds good, but are not all that versed on high end audio termonolgy. So, it is certainly possible that what I'm explaining, that I have lost, may not be transparency, but here goes!
My system with my old front end had the ability to discern between all the different instruments, and place them in different locations. For example the volcalist imaging in the center, the drummer behind him, the guitarists on stage left or right, and maybe keyboards behind them. Just a large playing field with all positions easily identified, and dimensional. My Innersound Eros speakers, which are well known for this attribute would actually sonically disapear. Also, the center image was very forward. I remember a time when my wife and I were listening to a Seal cd, and my wife made a comment "wow! it sounds as though he's sitting right next to me". Well this is what I'm calling transparency, maybe right, maybe wrong, i'm sure someone will let me know! Also, during playback, certain sections like guitar solo's, and other instruments would virtually leap out and touch you. This attribute is what gave me my great emotion, where you could not only hear it, you could almost feel it. The jolida sounds like a stereo system where your listening to speakers. I cant explain it any better in words than this.
My old front end was a Metronome transport, with an Assemblage 2.6 dac upgraded to signature edition by Chris Johnson. I believe Assemblage was a Sonic Frontiers product. I used a Kimber d-60 digital cable between transport and dac. As I said in my original post, it was bright, not warm in the least, but had incredible detail and resolution with insruments so well defined and dimensional. I thought with the Jolida I was going to get the warmth I desired but didn't realize all the good parts were going also. Thanks, hope this answers your question, and please dont beat me up too bad.
Aball - I have been looking at the Audio Aero Prima 2 for a month now. I was also told by someone else that this player may be one of the only tubed players that would do the trick for me, within my budget. I emailed a dealer yesterday to see if it was possible to get an in home trial, or be able to return it with a re-stock fee if it doesn't work out. The thought of spending 2K for another player, and taking a loss selling it, is what has held me back. Thanks to you, I feel more confident and seems worthy of a trial. Thanks
Kehut - I have not tried the Ei tubes you recommended, and it will be my first experiment since the cost is so little. I cant break apart and address everything you mentioned, but are in agreement with your observations.
The Jolida does have some wonderful attributes like you mentioned. I guess the emotion thing is ones personal taste by what gets them excited to create goose bumps.
Hopefully, the tube change will make improvements to my system. It is definately worth a try! Thanks for your help!
Brownsfan - You have exactly described my system with my old front end, and I too was in search to add some warmth and balance for the same reasons. I smiled when I read your remark "boring it was not" This is exactly what I was trying to describe, and have completely lost. Which, appealed to me, but was sometimes too overwhelming. I will say this though, I listen to lot more cd's in my collection using the Jolida than I did with my old front end. Just about all my cd's are tollerable using the Jolida, but they are just sort of lifeless. So it appears I went from one extreme to the other, and are looking for something in the middle. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten such good feedback from knowledable people. I have looked at the Audio Mirror dac 100 times and havn't bought one. This may be what I'm looking for. I intend on buying the tubes Kehut mentioned first, then the Audio Mirror would be my next step, then if all else fails, I will try the Audio Aero Prima. I'm putting it in this order due to expense.
Ketchup - I believe your observations may be correct. But, before I answer your question, let me explain about my audio knowledge so I dont end up looking foolish. I'm 50, listened to music all my life, and was a musician in my early days. I do in fact know what sounds good, but are not all that versed on high end audio termonolgy. So, it is certainly possible that what I'm explaining, that I have lost, may not be transparency, but here goes!
My system with my old front end had the ability to discern between all the different instruments, and place them in different locations. For example the volcalist imaging in the center, the drummer behind him, the guitarists on stage left or right, and maybe keyboards behind them. Just a large playing field with all positions easily identified, and dimensional. My Innersound Eros speakers, which are well known for this attribute would actually sonically disapear. Also, the center image was very forward. I remember a time when my wife and I were listening to a Seal cd, and my wife made a comment "wow! it sounds as though he's sitting right next to me". Well this is what I'm calling transparency, maybe right, maybe wrong, i'm sure someone will let me know! Also, during playback, certain sections like guitar solo's, and other instruments would virtually leap out and touch you. This attribute is what gave me my great emotion, where you could not only hear it, you could almost feel it. The jolida sounds like a stereo system where your listening to speakers. I cant explain it any better in words than this.
My old front end was a Metronome transport, with an Assemblage 2.6 dac upgraded to signature edition by Chris Johnson. I believe Assemblage was a Sonic Frontiers product. I used a Kimber d-60 digital cable between transport and dac. As I said in my original post, it was bright, not warm in the least, but had incredible detail and resolution with insruments so well defined and dimensional. I thought with the Jolida I was going to get the warmth I desired but didn't realize all the good parts were going also. Thanks, hope this answers your question, and please dont beat me up too bad.