With old stock tubes it was a sonic dream, now I can only tolerate vinyl and DVD-Audio.

Lousey build and finally Jolida gave up on repairing it.

Great Sound while it lasted.

Musical, easy to operate, tube analog stage.

Breaks too easily. Jolida apears to have reliability problems with this unit.

This is one of the most musical CD players I have had the pleasure to use. It is too bad the reliability is so bad. After 5 months of use my first unit would not open either by remote command nor by pushing the button on the unit. The replacement worked for one hour and the same problem occured. I will return it also and purchase another manufactures product. I have owned many different manufactures CD player over the years and never had an operating problem.

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson, Sony, Camelot, NAD and Dennon.

Great sound, reasonable price.

Poor design, poor manual, maybe some quality control issues.

I got one of the new Jolida 603A CD players. It sounded great. If you've heard the difference between a CD remastered from original tapes and one that wasn't remastered, that improvement in sound is roughly the same improvement as the Jolida CD player was over my (non-ES Sony CD player.

However there were some problems with the JoLida CD player. First, out of the box it was dead. I checked the power cord and it was OK. I took out the fuse and it checked out OK. When I put the fuse back in, it started working. After a few minutes it went dead again. I took out the fuse, tightened the fuse holder, and reinserted the fuse and it worked again - until the next day, when it died again in the middle of playing. Taking the fuse out and putting it back in again made it start working again - until 9 days later when I pressed either the "stop" or "open" button while it was playing, and it died. This time it wasn't the fuse. The power light would come on, but nothing else would work; and my newest CD was trapped inside! Anyhow, I sent it back to be repaired, and they sent me a new one. It sounds great, and has had no problems.

Another problem is the design. It has six slender buttons arranged in three pairs to control things other than the power. But the buttons all look alike, so you either have to memorize what they do, or read them each time. Having buttons with standard symbols would be better. Also, with the power button, if you don't push it in far enough, it comes back out and the unit gets powered on briefly, and then powered down. This is probably bad for the tube electronics.

My original unit must have been one of the very early ones. It shipped without the user's manual because the manual wasn't ready yet. I got one later, but the manual was not carefully prepared. In some places it refers to the previous 601 and 602 models, rather than the 603.

Finally, a minor quibble - the name is too long. The front of remote control says (in addition to JoLida) "remote for vacuum tube reference CD player model : JD603". Does that need to be so long? (Usually only low-budget components have such long descriptive names.)

I'd really like to give this 4.5 stars, subtracting a little because of the design issues. But I give it 5 stars for sound.

I'll give it a 5 and a 4 to get a 4.5.

I love it ....

I hate it ....

Lets just say that when this unit is playing music, I'm in love with it. It probably bests everything out there that costs twice the price + 50%. It analogizes digital taking the edge off of the highs, reproducing beautiful midrange and losing nothing in the low frequency department. It actually gets me real close to preferring CD over Vinyl (when you factor in the convienence features of the CD format anyway).

In the looks department, I won't say that it looks cheap but rather that it looks like an inexpensive player. For how it sounds, it is an inexpensive player, a downright steal. Nah, I don't de-rate it for looks at all, it looks ok enough.

But ...... there is nothing more that I HATE than listening to a disc that I know is perfect and just knowing that somewhere along the way, this player is either gonna audibly skip or simply advance 10,20,30,90 seconds ahead into a track for no reason at all. I had a Roadmaster CD player in a beat up pick-up truck that skipped alot less than this CDP does ...... honestly.
It's already been sent back once. The amazingly long disc initiation times and no disc errors have been reduced to a dull roar but the sucker still skips and advances inexplicably. Play the same track again and dollars to donuts, it will play through it flawlessly the second time around.
I know that I'm dogging this thing and I wouldn't do so if there were few reported issues but that's just not the case, especially seeing that it's been in for repairs once already.

Well, I have a Dynaco on the way and when it arrives I'll ship this 603 off again and see what happens. I'll just look at it as an opportunity to compare the Dynaco with Jolida. One of them will become a "spare". But, rest assured that I'll keep sending the Jolida in until it comes back right. I'll follow up if I get this thing back, right.

I love their amps but I love to hate this CDP, or perhaps I should say that I hate to love it.
Without the issues, I would give this player 5 and 5, with the issues and the failure to resolve them once already, I just can't do it.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Denon, MF, Creek, HK .............

Sound and sound, did I mention sound

Build Quality, some times it take 20 sec. to read a disk
No gold interconects

I purchase the Jolida 603a with the Jolida 502A Integrated Amp. While I was EXTREMELY happy with the 502 I wasn't completely happy with the 603 CD.

Sound of the 603 put to shame my Onkyo 370 6cd carousal, comparing the sound quality between the two is like night and day. The Jolida sound like a high end CD, very open and detailed the bass slam is incredible and the midrange is as sweet and grainless as possible can be from digital media. The high are all their without brightness.

BUT: the build quality isn't their. There are times it take 20 seconds to read all tracks to display. Occasionally the laser will "skid" creating a fast forward effect for a split second. It is rare but when it happened is very annoying.

I will give it 5 Stars for sound
3 stars for build quality
5 stars for value (you need to spend much more to get sound that good)

Similar Products Used:

AH Tjoeh 99

Good mids

Did not like the bass, and afraid it would not stay together

This CD player sounded decent. But the bass was flawed in my rather high resolution system. I don't know how to describe it...it was dynamic but almost sonded like something was wrong. With music without much in the way of bass it was better.

I could not get over the design though. The soldering and workmanship inside looked cheap. Just felt like I was buying something cheesy. I don't care that it had a cheap case...I want to make sure the parts inside are quality.

The best I found of the three I tried is the Ah! Tjoeb 99 which is what I kept. Though all are good attempts the Tjoeb parts looked better and I like that it has the Philips transport which is used in mega dollar CD players. And it has comparable mids with better bass.

Similar Products Used:

Ah! Tjoeb 99, Cambridge D500

Sound is good

Poor tracking poor build quality just not there

The Jolida sounded much better than the Rega planet but wouldn't track and was poorly constructed. Would not recommend the dealer I bought it from Bill Baker at Response audio was great A plus for him, sorry that it didn't work out but Bill is honest and will not give you a hassle when requesting a refund wish all dealers were like him.

Way to go Response, sorry I didn't like your porduct.

Similar Products Used:

CEC 5100, Ah tojeb, Sony DVD 7700; Cary 301 tube cd

First things first--THE SOUND. Output options. Detachable power cord.

None in this price point.

After reading some of the previous reviews, I must say I have not yet come across any tracking problems. (But have only had it less than a month). I first heard this player at my local Jolida Dealer--Response Audio. They can be reached at 1-888-785-9773 or you can email Bill at Response34@aol.com.
I listened to this player through a 302B amplifier and a pair of their custom speakers. I listen to all types of music and this player does justice to any type of music. The selling point for me was the fact that it takes the harshness away from the top end that I found on some of the other solid state players I have owned or auditioned. The player I took home has Sovtek WA tubes in it (per recommendation from Bill) and these tubes do seem to tighten up the bass as compared to the original Chinesse tubes. He also said he would install gold RCAs for me but until I can upgrade the rest of my system, Onkyo amp & pre with Precise speakers, I'm not sure it will make too much difference. My next step will probably be a 1701 or 1501 Jolida Hybrid and better cables. But, untill then, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the seductive, warm sound of the 603. I'm still on my trial period but this player will not be going back.

Give it a try, you won't be dissapointed.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Adcom-Phillips CD-I, JVC

clarity, tight control of all frequencies, great fast base, pretty good smoothing of digitalis, but not as good as the 601.

Very cd conditon fussy. MUST be given a half hour warm up to prevent ugly feedback.

Well, I imagine some people reading these reviews were pointed this way by me. I appreciate all the honest reviewers found here at Jolida cd players.

This is a confounding piece of equipment. Don't get me wrong, I won't go back to anything else I have owned. Like all reviewers here, I want so badly for the Jolida to behave itself. The waves of utter musicality that wafts about my house is so uplifting! Alas, I have found cds must be in perfect condition if I don't want the annoying pauses talked about below. My Onkyo and Sony did one thing better, and that is tracking over abused cds.

Enough about the Jolida 603's weaknesses. I have replaced the tubes supplied with Svetlanas per Bill Baker's advice. Bill is the owner of ResponseAudio. If you want to beat sales taxes and at the same time deal with a great guy, Bill is your man.

Unlike the earlier Jolidas, the 603 uses Sony rather than Phillips in its out stage. The result is a much improved base extension over the 601 and better detail. Its a matter of taste, but the 603 gives a slightly brighter and more forward presentation. The transients are also a bit faster.

My overall impression of the Jolida 603 is that it is a gentler and more musical version of the analytical Sony ES. It's better smoothness is most noticeable in the low base, but it is also quite evident in voices. Like all Jolidas, the soundstage is far wider than the Sony's. At $550, the Jolida is a bargain. Sony isn't in its class. I haven't heard any $1500 players, but it matters little as they aren't bargains.

My equipment for now:

Speakers : Apogee Stage (full range ribbon speakers)
Amp : B&K 4420
Pre amp : Bryston .4b
cables : Monster
conects : Monster
CD player: Jolida 603

I am in the process of building the very best budget system possible around my audiophile speakers (check them out). So far, so good. I'll get Clarity interconnects and cables fom Bill Baker soon, and I may replace the B&K with a tube amp. I'm in search of a deeper stage. I wish all of us good luck.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 90ES, Onkyo, Jolida 601

smooth musicality, intimately listenable, wide and deep sound stage...real.

None, I don't use the remote :-)

This is a revisit. Like Mike below, my miss firing player was cheerfully replaced by Jolida with a machine that has proved nearly flawless.

Therefor, please disregard my negative comments below. This product truly is a "best buy." Unlike the equally priced Sony player, this Jolida is still in production, and besides, the Jolida is far superior in reproducing music. The sound stage is wide and deep as can be, and voices and instruments sound natural, not contrived and pinched like Sony (low fidelity sound.)

If you want a feel for what the big bucks club enjoy in hi-fi (high fidelity) then starting with Jolida is a great economical way to do it. with my present system I now enjoy synergy; that is compatibility between components, and true hi-fi; all for three thousand dollars.

Jolida 603 cd player (Svetlana)
Jolida 1000 A tube amp (upgrade tubes)
generic 12 gauge cables
Apogee Stage full range ribbon speakers

Similar Products Used:

Sony (best buy) ES90, Onkyo