Update
I thought I should talk about this a little since I alluded to it in my last part of this review.
About a week ago I finally got around to moving the PS Audio Juice Bar outlet center from the TV/DVD/music system to my headphone system, which is what I use 90% of the time to listen to these CD players at the moment.
You'll recall that the Juice Bar is a deliberately minimal design; there are no switches, lights, surge protectors, power conditioning - nothing. Just copper bus bars and PS Audio's basic hi-fi outlets (eight available altogether) in a heavy aluminum chassis.
Yes, there was undoubtedly a real increase in performance, even beyond what I described in my last posts. The natural, refined sound became more natural, and more refined. I hear more detail, dynamic range has greater effect than before, and everything just sounds more open. It's made it that much easier to compare the three CD players.
For now I've settled on a Shunyata Research Diamondback power cord from the outlet to the IEC inlet of the Juice Bar. From there I have yet another of the Diamondback pc's going to the CD player in use. In effect, it's like having a three meter run of the Shunyata pc from wall outlet to source component.
Not sure why I waited so long to do this, and now I don't think I could go back, so large is the improvement in sound, in so many ways.
As I said before, this new arrangement enhanced the performance I get from all the CD players. Positive changes in the sound of the Jolida were at least equally as noticeable as those with the other two better CD players. Perhaps even more, as a matter of fact. However, I am now able to hear more than ever that the Jolida - ironically, considering it has tubes - is clearly the brightest and harshest sounding of the three. This seems like a damning statement, but I still maintain that the Jolida is a very nice CD player, and one that people should consider if upgrading from a "lesser" CD player.
One example of the above: A few nights ago I broke out the Beatles in Mono box set. I used the Jolida first, thinking the tubes might perhaps tame the excessive (IMO) upper midrange energy in these recordings, and thereby eliminate listener fatigue. As it turns out, I was wrong, and switching from the Jolida to the Musical Fidelity, then playing the same Beatles songs, it was perhaps the biggest difference in sound I've ever heard between these two CD players. The MF was more coherent, revealed more detail, reproduced richer harmonic colors, and most importantly, it was so well balanced that it eliminated listener fatigue that I sometimes get with the Beatles in Mono CDs.
So there you have it. Now I'm going back to listening!
