Resolution has more than one meaning

Resolution. What do you mean by it? That depends. The dictionary goes from "motion, proposal" to "intent, resolve, determination" to "solution, working-out". The audiophile obsession is of course with higher magnifying power. To resolve not a problem though perhaps there is a problem in this approach somewhere. To instead penetrate finer and finer layers of micro-information buried in the noisefloor. Interesting how that particular meaning is quite divorced from the more common usage of the word.

But even as an audiophile term, there are multiple ways of aiming it. Resolution to obtain more data? Resolution to get closer to the live experience? Those are not automatically synonymous. In fact, they can be mutually exclusive. But neither do they have to be, as though cursed into eternally locked confrontation via some stupid definition.

The three-dimensional holography and razor-edged images from maximized data density through digital interpolation are, I hate to remind you, an artefact peculiar to so-called "highly resolved" playback. They're not part of any live event. However. If you're predominantly a visual participant, you may well benefit from such hyper-realistic add-ons. Such data may indeed assist you. In regenerating certain portions of the original's visual dimension that are plainly missing on the audio-only disc. Note how "pinpoint imaging", "soundstage accuracy" and "placement specificity" are visual descriptors. They fill in the sensory blanks created by the microphones. Mics, after all, are blind as bats. The only sensory stimulae they capture are of the forth --the aural -- kind. Imagine attending a concert without your eyes, nose, skin and tongue! An experience so much the poorer for being restricted to only one of our six-or-more senses...

Now what if you're a different type of listener? One who habitually closes his eyes during live music anyway? One who listens with his ears and heart to automatically abandon the eyes in trade? What type of playback resolution do you require, to help recreate the feeling dimension of the concert?

Dynamic resolution? Rhythmic resolution? Emotional resolution?

What if the visual listener felt as though his hyper-realistic rendition brought him closer to the live even? If it didn't matter that it didn't sound like it? What if the better-than-real elements created his bridge to suspend disbelief? Spanned the chasm between this-is-fake to this-seems-real? Does it really matter then if measurable (objective) reality and feeling (subjective) conviction didn't coincide?

Let me ask this differently. What's more important - a virtual clone that sounds like the real thing? Or a less precise rendition that feels more like it? And does that make it less or more precise then?

Stop in your eager tracks for a sec. Admit that resolution exists in many different forms. Contemplate what high-resolution means to you. There are no 'rights' or 'wrongs'. You can't fail with the wrong answer. This ain't an exam. There are, however, 'rights' and 'lefts'. Different ways to get to the same -- or different -- destinations. Their validity and appeal are inextricably tied to individuality. To nervous systems and synaptic patterns. To different trigger points. To different expectations about what should be triggered in the first place.

Relaxation? Transport? Intense stimulation? Mental appreciation? Emotional self-forgetfulness? A state of charged excitement, a release of aural n-dolphins? Sonic bubbly that leaves you warm, fuzzy, mellow and happy?

These questions lead to today's review subject, the Jolida JD-100 Vacuum Tube Reference CD player. It endeavors to add (supplement?) harmonic bloom, timbral richness and "analogue smoothness". To balance/offset digital nasties. Whether you consider these contributions extraneous and conceptually flawed (I want what's in dem pits, nothing more, nothing less) or a welcome relief from relentless data overload (I want to enjoy the music, not suffer it) depends. On your priorities. On your system. On whether the majority of your recordings are fatally handicapped or wonderfully balanced.

In short, it depends on many things. None of which I can qualify for you. I will of course tell you what the JD-100 did in three of my systems. Then it's for you to decide whether its brand of resolution -- and make no mistake, the JD-100's got rez to burn -- then you must decide whether this tubed contender's take on the rez-question will get you farther away -- or so much closer -- to the fundamental reason why you're listening to music in the first place.

Not his brother's keeper
Jolida's first CD player was a funky-ass mass-market jobbie with a tubed output stage and -- according to dealer friends -- atrocious reliability, poorer cosmetics and very iffy, plastic-flimsy construction. It was a goner and gone it is. Cain slew Abel. Nuff said.

The surviving brother dubbed JD-100 is a beast of entirely different stripes. Constructionally, it's a beaut. Build quality is he-man massive. No plastic in sight. That includes the remote. This object of literal overkill will shatter tiles and hamsters when dropped. The grained aluminum facia is hefty, classy and silver, with the words "Vacuum Tube Reference CD Player" in elegant cursive font to the right, and the logo and brand name to the left of the central drawer/display.

Thus symmetrically divided into equal thirds that continue with the inner layout, this facia gives you the power button with blue LED and the headphone jack with manual pot in its left field, five round push buttons for open, start/pause, stop , < and > in its right. The somewhat noisy drawer in the middle forecefully opens/closes in less than 1 second, TOC's displayed in less than 2. Ditto for cueing up any track regardless of where on the CD it's hiding. Impressive? You bet.

On the rear, two high-quality RCA output pairs, and one RCA digital out offer all the requisite connectivity. An IEC power inlet lets you fret over which aftermarket power cord to add. The remote's a lethal weapon in weight and heft. 24 exposed, positive-action silver balls act as the command triggers for all the usual functions. Those include on/off (off = standby and confirmed by the power light turning red); programming; repeat 1/all; random; remaining time current track/all tracks; intro; and direct track access 1-10 and 10+.

The programming protocol is simplicity itself: Hit program; enter the direct track access numbers in the sequence you want; push play. To confirm, the red letters PGM appear as well as those tracks in the block dispay you've entered.

Operational quirks? None. Unlike with certain ideosyncractic players (I won't mention names) the JD-100 starts playing a track simply when prompting its track number on the remote. No need to be redundant and hit "play" as well. The display is pale blue and displays a disc's contents in a 4x4 block of track numbers. Whatever track is presently playing blinks its number like a slot machine announces "Bingo, you've won."
Cool feature for future MkII version if Jolida paid attention to reviewer requests? Display dim/off. Minor nit? The intensity of the power LED. It'll leave a permanent ghost spot on your retina if you stare too long.

Impressions based on functionality and aesthetics? Zero complaints. Major applause. Home run. Even rapping the center of the chassis top didn't elicit the usual cheap sheetmetal "boiiinnng". Instead I got a satisfying "bonk". TIme to go bonkers on the innards which benefitted from Chris Johnson's PartsConnexion Level 1 Mod. Yes, that's Chris, original founder and former prez of Sonic Frontiers. Say hello. Here's the list of goodies he installed:

Audio Note Tantalum 0.5-watt resistors: 6 x 1K; 2 x 15K; 2 x 100K; 2 x 47K; 2 x 100R. Black Gate N and C grade electrolytic & Multicap PPMFX grade metallized polypropylene capacitors: 2 x 10uF/50V BG-C; 2 x 0.0033uF/600V PPMFX; 2 x 0.01uF/600V PPMFX; 2 x 3.0uF/200V PPMFX; 2 x 3.0uF/200V PPMFX; 3 x 100uF/50V BG-std; 2 x 10uF/50V BG-N. Black Gate diodes: 4 x SF4007; 8 x ultra-fast, soft recovery Hexfreds in power supply. Additionally, he installed 4 sheets of Sound Coat (that's why the chassis was such a dead ringer); 2' DH Labs pure silver output wire on hot and ground legs; 1 pair of all-copper Vampire RCA jacks; 4 small EAR Sorbothane footers; 4' TRT Wonder solder; two matched Svetlana 12AX7 replacement tubes. 4 hours labor.
Jolida's 18-month factory warranty extends to these modified players.

Now I gotta cheat. I haven't heard the stock player in non-modified form. Chris claims that his mod lowers the noisefloor for blacker blacks and enhanced detail and ambience retrieval; adds smoother yet more detailed sonics with enhanced dynamics; improves tonal balance; firms up images; dramatically improved bass to transcend "flubby" one-note anemia and now sound more like solid-state in that arena. So sez Chris. I won't be able to confirm the before-after observations. All of my comments are beaucoup après.

Exclusive is as exclusive does

The Level 1 mod on the JD-100 is exclusive to Walter Liedermann of The Graham Company in Roswell/GA. Walter was one of the original partners in HiFi Buys, a 10-store $100 Million/year chain in Atlanta. Then he went solo. He's presently a partner in av123.com and conducts his personal audio business as "underwoodwally" on-line. And no, there are no plans for a Level 2 mod. This nomenclature was chosen to differentiate the present mod package if/when another mod were to become available in the distant future. Call it a contingency plan for unlikely eventualities. Chris and Walter feel that the present upgrade maximizes the player's intrinsic potential without redesigning it from scratch. Why go ape just because you can?

How much? Hey, don't you want to know how it sounds first? How much? Okay, okay. The stock JD-100 retails for $900. The mod is $500 after January 1, 2003, $450 until then. This is exclusive of freight to and from the PartsConnexion's Canadian haunt where the mod ins installed. If you purchase an already modified unit from The Graham Company -- the only place that sells it -- the intro special throughout December is $1,210 delivered anywhere in the Continental US (excluding Alaska and Hawaii where shipping rates increase). That's $1,160 before freight. The price will increase to $1,250 + freight in the New Year.

Should you blackmail Santa into getting you one if you promise not to rat on his squeaky wheels?

24/192 solid-state versus thermionic style with undisclosed processing speed

To test the JD-100's mettle in the most intimately familiar context chez nous, I compared it against my resident French Cairn Fog player with its optional 24/192 upsampler card ($1,495), all in my 30-watt wuss rig (the term he-man or big rig already being misappropriated by those who own 500-watt Class A amplifiers with bristling heatsinks galore).
Barrio Chino's Méditerra Nostra [Candela/Tinder Records, 861042, 2001] will, in a few days, receive my CD Of The Year award. In the meantime, I used a few of its vibrant cuts to define the similarities and differences between either player. On "Massilia", a male and female voice sing to simple guitar and accordeon accompaniment. The voices are impassioned - refined in their delivery, yet raw with urgency at the same time. There's an emotive charge barely restrained by the simple downtempo tune. And guess what? The JD-100's greater intensity of tonal color portrayed the slightly piercing directness of the accordeon with more swagger, with a subtly greater swell of micro-dynamics. Its entrance into the song occured with more force, suggesting even greater presence. The vocals were more fervent. The Cairn was a mite more aloof - a bit cooler of temperament, but with a more pronounced sense of airiness.
Both exhibited equally quiet backgrounds, the tubed entry in no way handicapped by what expectations might have predicted - a perceptibly higher noise floor. Short of the diverging measure of ardor or image density, the players were far more similar than not.

The hairraisingly vital "Guadalquivir" track showcased larger differences due to a bigger ensemble and far greater compositional complexity. The Cairn was better at sorting out the depth dimension, at differentiating performers in their own individuated spheres. The Jolida's more heated, more voluptuous drama of dense presence reminded me of being mildly under the influence. Your visual perception goes slightly fuzzy but your interpersonal availability of free participation is liberated by a few notches. You laugh more readily, are less shy, wear your heart more openly on your sleeve. You focus less on faraway details. You're more involved with what's right in front of you. Your sense of being present to what is has gotten a semi-hallucinatory boost. Remember, I'm talking slightly inebriated, when this boost is still an enhancement, the slowing down of reflexes minor enough that your important capacities are still fully operational (explain that when you're pulled over).

While this simile of course is a bit handicapped as all such attempts tend to be, it does suggest rather pointedly the essential difference. The Cairn's shaded color temperature equated to greater transparency, brighter aural visibility. The Jolida's enhanced tonal density created more solidity and pop on the stage. This same "molecular compression" made penetration of the soundfield, in its farther reaches of the depth dimension, less automatic.

"Guadalquivir" sports a large assortment of tambourines and chime trees that send sparkling explosions of high-frequency bursts all over the scene. The Cairn's upper-harmonic resolution was superior in its ability to unravel that added number of frantically shimmering metal atoms dancing through the ethers like mad. The JD-100 foreshortened their temporal lives of miniature decays just a smidgen. But with it, each appearance of Taofik Farah's oud -- metallic virilty, incisive force -- carried that extra jolt of Mountain Dew.
The opening on the same track sports powerful bass, hard-working percussion and full-handed piano. The Jolida suffered none of the popular tube-drag notions, excess girth or ponderous physicality. Rather, it perhaps slammed a bit harder than the Cairn for that extra degree of wallop. This conspired again for the creation of a very vivid, emotionally gripping rendition, as though you gazed at a bright summer scene through polarized glasses. Colors pop harder. Familiar surroundings acquire that added infusion of excitement. But I'm not talking the kind of outright (though fun) colored-lens psychedelics that drastically alter color values as though you had traded Gaia for some planet whose atmosphere broke down the visible light spectrum very differently. In audiophile terms, that would be reckless distortion. And the Jolida's slightly polarized version on reality wasn't this wrong kind of distortion. It merely added the acuteness of a minor caffeine rush. Good kind of "distortion". In fact, mighty better for ya than caffeine.

So which player had the better resolution on this high-quality "audiophile-grade" recording?
Now you'll understand the opening exposé with its many qualifications. In case you wondered. In audiophile terms of separation, of maximized decay times, of inner detail and so-called transparency, the Cairn wielded the more sharply honed blade. But for emotional resolution and optimized tonal contrast, the Jolida took the crown. Two different races, two kinds of spectators. Two winners. No losers.

Which one did I prefer? The majority of my listening fare favors complexity over simplicity, rhythmic mayhem over neat order. My reference rig is plenty intense already with the turbo-charged dynamics of the hornspeakers and the image density of the TimbreLoc optimized AUDIOPAX monos. In this sytem, most of the time, I'd favor the Cairn for how its cooler, more analytical mien interfaces with the more "romantic" signatures of the remainder.
However! My second system around the Bel Canto eVo 200.4 (especially when preceded by the matching PRe1 to remain solid-state pure - no tube-derived distortion in other words) might offset said balance in unequivocal favor of the Jolida's contributions. I moved both components into the adjacent room to test this hypothesis with the Coincident Technology Victory speakers. They had finally transcended their initial out-of-the-box state of sheer unlistenability. They began showing promise while still hovering slightly on the hard side of neutral to severely test my usually good-natured break-in patience. Add some hotter Pop recordings into said mix. This might just have the makings of mimicking a more mainstream rig, fed with a more mainstream diet of merely so-so recordings you love to death for their musical messages, never mind the warts and crow's feet of inferior production values. Can you say "real world" instead of idealized ivory tower conditions?

From blatant annoyance to guilty enjoyment
The header gives it away. The Jolida won. By a long shot. Lemme 'xplain. My living room is considerably larger, its expanse of Italian tiles and curtain-less walls rather more lively than my well-tamed Avantgarde-AUDIOPAX room. I know what it needs but haven't gotten around to it yet. Rectification is doubly damned by my complacency of a dialed-in reference room. To now compound the intrinsic brightness of this space, I popped in Tutus by Turkish Pop diva Esra Özmen [Kiss Muzik]. This is your commercial staple production, close-miked to let you see straight down the throat of your favorite leading lady. In short, an in-your-face affair teetering on the brink of relentless fatigue. But then, Ezra's got such glorious pipes that I overlook these, ahem glaring shortcomings just for a brief contact high on certain needful occasions.

What can I say? The Cairn's tell-it-as-it-is honesty turned mercilessly annoying. 'twas thin, bright, turn-me-off bad. Not its fault, really - but conditions were purposefully stacked against its kind of resolution.

The JD-100 didn't turn a rascal into a saint, but it did transform a torturous sadist into a rascal. While the former is an unacceptable menace, the latter's great fun - with a certain edge you'll want to monitor closely lest he takes advantage of you, but otherwise more colorful, street-wise and vibrant than your typical goody two-shoes.

And yes, this is a lighthearted way of describing things. But you know what? It goes straight to the heart of the matter.

If you're suffering from edgy recordings, a bright room, forward electronics -- or all of the above -- the Jolida CD player could be heaven-sent. It can't perform wholesale miracles, of course. It's not fake Maple syrup that drowns out moldy pancake staleness with such cloying sweetness that you can swallow a wholesale mess. But it does inject a potent dose of midrange liquidity coupled to energetic dynamics that add color and brio to proceedings that might otherwise be just slightly offputting or a bit sleepy and flat.

To assess whether this magic formula of system/room/software equilibrium could be displaced again, I now substituted the Art Audio VPS-dm for the Bel Canto PRe1. This is a highly dynamic remote-controlled tube linestage that performs its thermionic voodoo in very refined doses. I played the same cut.

The improvement rendered by the Cairn/VPS combo exceeded that of the Jolida/PRe1 team by a considerable margin. There was now added depth and layering, far more air, a greater sense of overall sophistication and relaxation that knocked the former brusqueness flat on its ass. In short, putting the tubes in the preamp section -- of this particular preamp -- became the bigger equalizer. Özmen was now highly enjoyable and surrounded by a goodly dose of ambience, the former distractions of shortcomings banished to a fuller assimilation of the music per se. Perhaps she had retreated a bit on the mild side of the passion fence though? Sophisticated yet tame?
I became curious. Would putting tubes in series be too much of a good thing? JD-100 + VPS = mush?

Not at all.The effects were certainly dramatic and larger in scope than the differences between the two front-ends on the solid-state preamp. The somewhat mellow and relaxed character of the Cairn/VPS combo now turned far more dramatic. A certain bluster crept back into the mix, not of glare or edge but overt seduction. The whipped-cream airiness of the VPS remained but was now augmented by saturated tonal values. The expressive envelope of quiet and loud passages expanded to make Esra's vocals more gripping. She was now reaching across space with stronger conviction.

Following up this stand-in track for worst-case scenario was some Anne Sophie Van Oter on Mozart arias. These distinctions in tonality and dynamics remained, albeit less clearly preferential. The differences now came down to nearfield versus midhall seating, the Cairn creating the farther perspective, the JD-100 the more intense one of closer placement.

What many popular notions about tubes overlook is their potential for superior dynamics over solid-state. This, more than tonal voluptuousness, is what makes them sound so alive.

What tube detractors cite instead are bandwidth, noise and life expectancy limitations. And while the latter are real challenges that good engineering must account for, the reliability issue in particular is far less acute in low-voltage, low-level circuits. In other words, you want tubes but are worried? Stick 'em at the head-, not tail-end of the playback chain.

You see where I'm going. When you add up the build quality, features, price and performance of this machine from the East (but endowed with US-based engineering as its backside label proclaims); when you count the number of less-than-stellar recordings in your collection versus its showcase examples; it doesn't take hair splitting to recognize that Jolida's affordable Vacuum Tube Reference is an awesome value with real applicability in the real world.

Its particular sonic talents will be especially appreciated in affordable systems that presently lack harmonic finesse and the kind of colorful intensity that thermionic timbres and dynamics bestow. While I don't know the platform Chris Johnson started out with, it's clear that his skillful upgrade of parts in the proper places and values highlights the famed promises of tubes while conscientously accounting for their known weaknesses.

Limp bass? Muted highs? Thick midrange? Forget all that, especially the first supposition. I admittedly had my doubts when I read Johnson's benefits list below the list of parts his upgrade installed. His "bass as good as solid-state" raised my cynical eye brows. Unless the silicon-heart Cairn is underendowed in that department -- and I really don't think so though there's never any telling what a truly monstrous power supply might do -- the Jolida's bass is fully comparable in reach and definition and in fact seems to exceed the Gallic warrior in wallop and displacement. The only thing this player lacked vis-à-vis the slightly more expensive Frenchman - and "lack" is clearly the wrong word as we've established? The last word in spatial resolution.

But for all its heady Euro charm, that fellow lacks some of its vivacious intimacy. Could one have both? I dare imagine. But at what cost I have no idea. I seriously doubt you'd find it anywhere near the Jolida's asking price. The question now simply becomes what kind of resolution your system is more in need of: spatial or emotional?

In case it matters, I twisted Walter Liedermann's arm. My trusty -- but oh-so-long-in-the-tooth -- Denon DCD 1560 finally began skipping on all CDs like a smooth flint stone jumps the water. Since I had to replace it literally any day now lest my living room system go mute; and since this JD-100 fit its bill to such a "T"... it's gonna stay. Walter gets a Showcase spot, I get a music maker. This trade doesn't put food on the table but a smile on my face. And that, folks, sometimes and when you're soft in the head, is the far more important ingredient of the two.

A reader responds: Enjoyed your review. I've had this player (sans the PE upgrades) for about 6 months. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I've done the tube rolling exercise with 10 or so variants of the 12AX7 variety, and have settled on the GE 5751 triple mica black plates. Suggest you give them a try. Outstanding bass, gentle mid bloom (fabled tubes such as the Mullards just overdo it) and the treble pings with little compromise.

Nice site! I'll keep reading.

KG

Srajan Ebaen, 6moons.com, December 2002

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