Muralman1, the Jolida featured the stock Chinese tubes. My dealer friend never runs anything other than the stock tubes in the equipment he sells. We did speak about that. I do think that a lot of people will be drawn to the way Jolida products sound with the stock tubes. It's very warm and romantic, but I find that European tubes really open the sound and add a lot of speed and detail.
It's interesting that you found the Music Hall to be more lush. We thought the opposite, the Jolida was a bit slow and overly rich. I would think the Philips tubes would lend more of what the Music Hall sounds like. Good pace, rhythm, and quickness. At least, the JAN Philips tubes in my Blue Circle preamp give that sound.
I would like to hear the Jolida JD100 with the RCA, Sylvania, Siemens, or Telefunken tubes you mentioned. I guess you like the Sylvania best? I wish you a long and happy relationship with the Jolida.
By the way, I am probably in the minority(and get killed for it), but I had a chance to listen to the Shanling tube CD player(with stock tubes) over the summer, and thought the Music Hall MMF-25 to sound better than that as well. I think the cheaper of Roy Hall's players was more agile, natural, and musical. Tube upgrade would help this player I would think.
It's interesting that you found the Music Hall to be more lush. We thought the opposite, the Jolida was a bit slow and overly rich. I would think the Philips tubes would lend more of what the Music Hall sounds like. Good pace, rhythm, and quickness. At least, the JAN Philips tubes in my Blue Circle preamp give that sound.
I would like to hear the Jolida JD100 with the RCA, Sylvania, Siemens, or Telefunken tubes you mentioned. I guess you like the Sylvania best? I wish you a long and happy relationship with the Jolida.
By the way, I am probably in the minority(and get killed for it), but I had a chance to listen to the Shanling tube CD player(with stock tubes) over the summer, and thought the Music Hall MMF-25 to sound better than that as well. I think the cheaper of Roy Hall's players was more agile, natural, and musical. Tube upgrade would help this player I would think.