There was a long review by Jafox some time ago, very useful.
As a recent owner of a Linestage 11XL version with all further àlacarte upgrades I can assure that this is the most satysfying preamp I've heard. I had the chance to make long listening test of ARC REF1-2, CJ various old premiers, Counterpoint SA11, Spectral 10-20, ML 26- 320 (but not the 32ref), BAT 31-51SE (but not the REX) and others (Lamm LL2 for example) but the Aria has something special in the long road towards real music, very dynamic, never fatiguing but with a great extension at extreme frequencies, and last but not least it's very revealing of low level details.
Unit it's very sensitive to tube rolling! I made some experiment just for trying... in the future I'll made further changes.
The remote looks very very cheap and not in the same league of the competitors, I suppose that designer have chosen the way to put more money in the circuit... despite this it works easily.
regards
Marc
As a recent owner of a Linestage 11XL version with all further àlacarte upgrades I can assure that this is the most satysfying preamp I've heard. I had the chance to make long listening test of ARC REF1-2, CJ various old premiers, Counterpoint SA11, Spectral 10-20, ML 26- 320 (but not the 32ref), BAT 31-51SE (but not the REX) and others (Lamm LL2 for example) but the Aria has something special in the long road towards real music, very dynamic, never fatiguing but with a great extension at extreme frequencies, and last but not least it's very revealing of low level details.
Unit it's very sensitive to tube rolling! I made some experiment just for trying... in the future I'll made further changes.
The remote looks very very cheap and not in the same league of the competitors, I suppose that designer have chosen the way to put more money in the circuit... despite this it works easily.
regards
Marc