I recently picked up a used Jolida JD100, and with a good PC and the right interconnects and tubes, it sounds full, rich, rounded and makes huge beautiful music. It's been a joy to listen to. To date, it's the only digital front end I've tried that allows me comfortably listen to my maggie IIc's without my sub. The difference from my old cdp and a couple of dacs I've recently tried was dramatic enough to sound like I had upgraded to a better amp.
It's easy to make maggies sound bright and thin, with the wrong player, amp or cables. Personally, I would have never considered trying an Arcam, or any other player where some users reported thin or analytical sound in their systems, because I figured if one guy reported "to bright and thin", then that's what I would hear with my stuff. I've never heard anyone faulting the jolida for being thin or too analytical. Maggies natively produce great detail, and using a highly detailed player will get you "detail overload".
Be carful with amps, as well. For the past 3 years, I've been using a vintage Kenwood KA-9100 integrated, a late 70's dual mono beast with 90wpc, with surprisingly good results, first with my SMGa's and now with my IIc's. Well, I just recently picked up a used Musical Fidelity A300 integrated, hoping it would be an upgrade, but I was sorely disapointed. Sure, it does put out more power, and I can play stuff much louder, but the overall sound left much to be desired. After a few weeks of struggling with cable swaps, sub adjustments and speaker placements, I finally gave up and put the kenwood back in, and what a relief.
Since getting the jolida, I can finally sit down and listen to some music, and not be constantly thinking about what I need to try next, to make things sound right. Also, I'm not suffering nearly as bad with some cd's sounding good, and other's bad. I'm getting much more consistant sound accross a wide range of music types and recording qualities.
