Modified Jolida JD100A or Cary Cd308T

YES! In all respects the Cary is better.

I had the Jolida with tube upgrades. It is dynamic, detailed, bright, large but flat soundstage, and rough around the edges. It remindes me of a Rotel on tubes.

The Cary uses better transformer and parts, more like a moded Jolida.

HDCD makes a big difference.
The Cary will upsample on the fly.
The Jolida has the Burrs Brown 1716 DAC and the Cary has the much better 1704u DAC.
I find the Cary and Jolida sounds best when left on all the time.

I have the non-tube version and it is still better than the Jolida. The 308 can be upgrade to the 308T for the differnce in cost at a later date.

Mike

Before I bought my Cary 308 I auditioned the 308 and 308T in an all tube Cary system and the 308 had better detail while the 308T seemed soft and boring. With SS electronics the T may be better.

Years latter I auditioned the 300/300 with its tube and SS output into an all tube VTL system and the SS output was more dynamic and detailed while the tube output seem veiled. We also compared the tube output to SS electronics. The preference across the board was if favor of SS cdp and tube amplification vs. Tube cdp and SS amplification.

So it may depend on your complimenting electronics. If you buying old gear used just go with your instincts and you will probably be happy.