I learned about the Belles Aria from @Art K in a Sugden A21 thread. The part of me who loves vinyl, hardtail mountain bikes, and making tortillas from scratch has always been drawn to the Sugden A21’s approach. When an A21 came up for sale, I purchased it and gave it a try in my bedroom system. It is my particular dream (or curse) to want great sound throughout the house. To this end, I run four systems at the moment: a vintage one on the main floor, another one in my den, family room that is mostly for two-channel but doubles for movies and streaming TV shows, and a smaller footprint systems in my home office (I work from home) and bedroom. Vinyl is my preferred medium, but I also have my cd collection ripped to a NAS and run Roon and Tidal to all of the above systems. My bedroom is my favorite place to listen to music, but I most often listen in my home office. So I was excited about the potential of the A21 in my bedroom with Harbeth P3ESRs, a Schitt Modi Multibit, and a Vinyl Nirvana VN-150 run through a Lehmann Black Cube Se ii. Previously, in an effort to keep the system small, I’d tried a PS Audio Sprout (holy bass bloat), a Quad Vena (boring and thin), and a Creek 5350se I picked up for cheap on eBay (more like it, but...). The Creek, promising as it was, developed terrible noise problems including an audible transformer hum and scratchy sounds when switching inputs I couldn’t remedy. Enter the A21 Signature. While the A21 was initially promising, with a bewitching tone on stripped-down music, it failed with more propulsive and complex material—a symptom I diagnosed to it having insufficient power for the somewhat inefficient Harbeths. In the A21 thread, Art ended up trading in his A21 and keeping a Belles Aria, which got me very interested in the Aria. The Aria, it appeared, had sufficient power, understated looks that would work in the bedroom, and a remote, which meant I wouldn’t have to get out of bed while listening. After the experience of the noisy Creek, I was also very drawn to descriptions of how quiet it was. After trying to find one used for a month, I bit the bullet and bought a new one through Audio Connection that was shipped to me directly from the Belles factory. Art and others have talked about the Belles break-in time and how it needs 200-250 hours to come into its own. I’ve been streaming Roon to it non-stop during waking hours and believe its there and ready for a review. So after a lot of missed connections, have the P3ESRs finally found their match? In a word, yes. I am thrilled with this amp and its performance. In the beginning, I found the bass a bit overbearing and voices somewhat recessed, but as the amp began to break-in everything balanced out. There is a thrilling clarity with this amp that holds everything in balance without muddying other parts of the experience. I realized that on reference tracks like Wilco’s “Jesus Etc” I was hearing a more nuanced version of the bass—more detail of the recording. The bass is there and has an appealing tautness, but it doesn’t crowd out Jeff Tweedy’s vocal track. I started to notice this quality elsewhere as well, and I came to regard the Aria as capable of both muscular power and delicate nuance, often simultaneously (if the recording called for it). The Radiohead track “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” has a deep, visceral electronic thump, an apocalyptic rumble that exists in tension with delicate instrumentation and vocals elsewhere. Listening to it one night, I thrilled to the existence of all of these elements at once firmly placed in a nice, wide soundstage. “Crystalline” is the word that comes to mind. It’s this crystalline quality that makes the Aria a great amp for electronic music. On Sza’s excellent “Love Galore,” the monstrous bass is clean and deep and never overwhelms the other textures in the track, no matter how loud you turn it up. On more delicate material, however, like the Eno ambient albums or ECM offerings I often listen to at night, the amp excels at capturing quiet nuances. One of my more memorable listening experiences of late was walking through the bedroom and catching the Express Rising track “Daniel Fern.” I took a seat and listened to this dreamy, experimental Chicago ambient track, appreciating how haunting it was to hear delicate guitars and deeeep bass handled so effortlessly. It’s a cold, haunting track, but it suddenly felt hugely human and moving. This, I decided, is where the magic is with this amp in combination with the P3ESRs: precision and humanity combining to deliver a profound emotional experience. Regarding that humanity, I would be remiss not to mention how much I’ve come to appreciate vocal performances and piano as the amp has bloomed. I had another stopped in my tracks moment listening to harmonies by Kings of Convenience, and a number of them noticing piano textures: Duke Pearson’s playing on “Cristo Redentor,” Spooner Oldham’s on Aretha Franklin’s “Drown in my Own Tears,” or the piano track in the Father John Misty track “God’s Favorite Customer” to name a few. On the Jorja Smith track “Tomorrow,” her voice is huge, backed by a spare piano and backing vocals, but the voice never overwhelms the piano. I’m especially intrigued by what this crystalline quality delivers for vinyl. I don’t know why this should be, but vinyl imperfections are less perceptible than they were when I was using the Creek. I feel I’m drawn into the sound more, less distracted, less likely to think about the sound characteristics. Though I burned in and admired the amp using Roon, I’m finding it hard to listen to anything but Vinyl of late for these reasons. Instead of selling the A21, I made the mistake of trying it with my office system with my Proac Tablette 10s, where it has proved a much better match. It may be interesting for those in the market to compare these two very similar small-footprint systems: Sugden/ Proac vs Aria/ P3ESR. Truth is, I would be happy with either. The Sugden/ Proac system is a touch warmer, a quality that I find accommodates its sources (Allo USBridge, Chromecast for SoundCloud, and Onkyo 7030 feeding a Bifrost Multibit DAC). I play this system louder and longer and it all works well because when it’s on I’m trying to get things done. If I had a vinyl source in there (the devil on my shoulder whispers about a technics 1210gr) I wonder how it would sound. But I will say that after hearing “Daniel Fern” track on the Aria mentioned above, I got curious and went down to the basement and listened to it on my office system. It was still good, but a little less clean and precise, with the bass rumble overwhelming other parts of the track. I find the aria/Harbeth version more engaging. Anyway, I’m thrilled with this amp and imagine I’ll be happy for a long time. The Aria is a stellar piece of gear and a great value for the money. I also think it’s underappreciated and under-reviewed. There is basically one professional review out there of the amp. Based on that review, Art’s enthusiasm, and the words of some dude on Pinkfish Media, I took a chance. Glad I did. Right now, I’m listening to a vintage pressing of Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man” soundtrack and loving how clean and futuristic this proto-instrumental hip-hop from 1972 sounds. I feel like I've finally unlocked the potential of my little Harbeths.
Well now, that is one impressive review. I do appreciate reviews in which music is so wonderfully described. Thank you for the time and effort. Lastly, congrats on finding the pieces of the audio puzzle that work so well for you. Oh wait, where are the pics?
Thanks! Having trouble with pics this morning. Have used photo bucket in the past but can’t get it to work. Is there another service to try?
Outstanding review.The Belles Aria does not seem to come up on Audiogon,or any of the other used audio sites very often.I guess that has something to do with how good it is.
Thanks! And thanks for pointing me toward this amp. Your observations from the other thread have proved spot-on.
Thanks! Work like wheels but these are the “ball feet” from Resonant Woods, who made these stands. You just screw them in where spikes would go. While they don’t roll, they do slide without leaving marks on the floor and are much more stable and less fussy than spikes (I have young kids). Really great too for a setup like this where I leave the P3ESRs close to the wall for background music and pull them out for more serious listening.
Actually haven’t listened to it yet since I have the Lehmann. Have read elsewhere it is surprisingly good though.
The A7's sit here during the day. In the evening after the business day is over, I pull them out and position them for the best listening. Back they go again in the morning. I have two other pair of them and they are all on wheels.
Great review! I also read through the Sugden thread and mainly due to Art's experiences that he shared there I decided to get a Aria as well. Mine is no where near broken in yet (probably in the 70 hour range), but I am having a good time listening to it's progress as it's full potential is fairly obvious even now. I am observing a lot of what you have in your review here, but I am at a totally different point in the whole process of hearing the Aria. The phono stage is probably in need of break in as well I imagine, so I have been using it -it really is surprisingly good! All things considered I have a feeling that as far as my mm setups go, this will do just fine and as I am considering a mc setup at some point I will either just put a sut into that or a whole new stage through one of the other line inputs. For me this amp is the nexus of a fresh start simplified core system, I will probably run the pre out to another amp and speaker set up, or maybe just maintain two systems for different listening sources/modes. I remember being tempted to go for the Belles Solo integrated for more power, but came across some talk online regarding the Aria as the sweet spot sound-wise in the Power Modules integrated line, not so sure about that Virtuaso integrated though...that looks fairly awesome. I initially thought I might need more wattage because I had purchased a pair of Tekton Double Impacts (the 4 ohm with upgrade), I almost got the 8 ohm version thinking that although the speakers are pretty efficient (98.82dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity), they handle 400 watts and have 11 drivers in each speaker -so I was a bit concerned. But both Dave Belles and Eric from Tekton said not to worry so I went for it. They were right, I could see maybe really pushing the volume beyond halfway as a troublesome area as far as the amp creating distortion if pushed hard and long, but that's only a theoretical as far as I can tell because the DIs really seem to like the Aria and vice versa, so halfway on the volume dial just seems totally unnecessary. I just had to try the Impacts after having read a lot about them and finding most of it very positive, so far they seem like an ideal way for the Aria to let it all out. I did see a used one located in down state Illinois on the US Audio mart recently, he wanted 1200. I speculated for some reason that he may not have given it a chance to break in all the way but who knows. It's a great ss amp.
The Aria sure looks pretty on your beautiful sideboard. But why did Belles choose that font? Looks like comic sans to me. Another ex-Sugden a21 user here. I too needed a more powerful amp for my speakers. You (and Art K) are making me very curious about the Belles Aria. OTOH, I am more than satisfied with my Yamaha A-S1100 which I acquired after having sold the a21.
Lol not the most elegant font, but definitely not comic sans. In general, the look of the amplifier is pretty functional, but it has grown on me and seems fitting to its personality.
I do if I might add something here. The phono is one of the best on board stages I've heard. Super quiet and very dynamic. My P3 with Hana EH sings beautifully with my Aria.
I really like a simple, quality system like yours. Belles are really underrated products. I have owned HLP3ESRs in the past, loved 'em, regret selling them. Love the look of the Aria too
Great review/thread Wish I could get to that happy place with my system, I’ve been fighting it for years throwing many $$ at it but don’t feel I’m any farther ahead. I usually chalk it up to unrealistic expectations but this review encourages me to keep trying
Barely and I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Recently moved the stereo into a bigger room and the extra breathing space sure helps. Plan a big rug for the floor and at the recommendation of my speaker dealer something on the wall behind my listening chair. Based on the room size and shape, and the nature of the speakers (wave guided tweeters) , he figures that’s all I’ll need
Question for Belles Aria owners: I used to have an Arcam FMJ A29 amp. A feature that I loved on this amp was that there was absolute silence when not playing music and moving the volume knob or turning the amp on. I had the chance to try the highly regarded Rega Elex-R one weekend and got dissapointed on this front (there was an annoying sound coming out of the speakers when turning the amp on). How’s the Belles Aria on this front? Any humming or any other noise when not playing music? Thank you
I haven’t tried moving the volume knob while not playing music (would do now but am on vacation) but the amp is the quietest I’ve owned. Dead silent when powered on and no music playing and, as Art pointed out in the other thread, no channel bleed. The amp I replaced with the Aria (Creek 5350 se) had serious hum issues, especially with my turntable, but with the Aria it’s blissful silence until the music starts.
