Quote Originally Posted by ECMJazz
I'm curious! What model Jolida and what kinds of issues? Thanks!
the 202a -- this was a second hand unit that I wanted to audition and then buy. This was a B&W Reps unit and I booked time to audition it. It didn;t work and all that came out was static. I booked a second audition but got a phone call saying it failed and had to be repaired. Then 3 weeks later I went down to audition it and it didn't even turn on. The dealer was so mad at it that he refuesed to sell it.

You ask why I was willing to give ti so many chances? The price - they were asking $300.00Cad for it. The reason they had it that cheap to start with was because it had physically caught on fire.

Now this may just be a lemon but Jolida has had some issues mentioned on a lot of forums and that is why I lean a little stronger to Antique Sound Labs which has not been free of problems either. Generally though ASL has been sightedmore for fit and finish issues which are less important. My headphone amp has been perfect for 6 years (still on the stock tubes).

One big reason I prefer AN or SET amps is that you never have to bias the tubes -- incorrect biasing can lead the inexperienced user into some problems. But Audio Note's entry level integrated is the OTO SE at $2,600.00 with phono another $500.00.

The ASL AQ 1003DT would be my first choice in the $1k US range -- the SS Audio Refinement Complete is also quite excellent for the money as is the Jolida 302B which has a more classic valvey sound than the ASL.