Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC I

I purchased this from AudioGon about a year ago. I have since purchased a Parasound Halo P-5 preamp that has a very nice soundintg dac built in. The unit has the very desired level 1 mod by Underwood HiFi. Except from Underwood HiFi web site:

Our Level-1 and Level-2 mods for the Jolida FX Tube DAC/Preamp MK3 take this high-value DAC to the next level. The basic $500 DAC is a great sounding inexpensive tube converter with 3 inputs - 1 x coaxial, 1 x USB and 1 x optical. It features a Burr Brown 24/192 converter chip and offers upsampling of all incoming signals. It also has a nice headphone amp and volume control to be used as a digital preamp.

Our Level-1 & 2 modifications make it considerably better by increasing low-level resolution and bass performance as well as transparency.


These mods were designed by Chris Johnson of the Parts ConneXion in Canada. Chris is the founder and former president of Sonic Frontiers.
The Level 1 mod includes the following [$480 + frt. retrofit to MK1, MK2 and MK3 DAC’s; $896. + frt. pre-modified on MK3 DAC’s]:

• We replace the brass RCA output connectors with 1pr. of Vampire CM-2/CB direct-gold-over-copper-body female RCA jacks
• 6 x Elna RFS Silmic II audio-grade electrolytic coupling caps in the power supply. These are super low ESL & ESR.
• 2 x Clarity Cap ESR metalized polypropylene caps in the output coupling caps positions.
• 1.5 feet of Connex BL-Ag 2 x 23-gauge 99.99% pure silver solid-core with drain wire and full shield custom made for PCX by DH LABS.
• 10 feet WBT solder throughout
• 2 x Svetlana (winged-c) 12AX7
• 3 of hours labor.

I very much enjoyed this DAC. It made my CD’s sound more like my vinyl. The mod alone is $480. Unit will be packed well for safe shipment to you. Tubes installed with the Underwood mod are 2 x Svetlana ( winged-c) 12AX7's.