Belles Greatest Integrated ever! The Virtuoso

“A percentage of Gon member's are in the same camp. Buy just for show. I just don't get it. They would be better off investing in a car collection or coin collection.”

Was this comment really necessary? I have not heard any of the Belles products and have no reason to believe they are not as excellent as they’re being described. That been said, comparing its sound to a tube sound may or may not be a great selling point. There are a lot of folks who prefer a more balanced sound and the so called tube midrange bloom is not always a preference. Many if not most of the all tube - amp and preamp, systems I’ve heard put the vocal singers ahead of the other musicians on the soundstage even when the singer is physically standing behind some of the other mucisians on the platform. But I digressed...
Unfortunately this is yet another great piece of gear that I can not afford, at least at the moment. 

I like Audiozen’s passion for Belles products.   He has found a product line that he loves that is somewhat affordable.  Yes Audiozen is a huge Belles fanboy but certainly not the first to proclaim over the top praise for a particular brand.  If he feels Belles is the best good for him.  Certainly I don’t agree that one brand is the best but we all have our reasons on how we spend our money.

Remember that Johnny Rutan is a big fan of Belles too, and I have very reason to put much faith in his judgement.

For the most part, many Audiophiles are preoccupied with whats on the radar, in the mags, and their demigod reviewer's they worship. If your an Audiophile/Musicphile with an intense passion for music, and your ongoing search in recent years has not fully satisfied your quest, Belles maybe your final choice. A real keeper. During the past several months I spent considerable time looking under the hood of many Belles components and was stunned by the very high quality parts and low noise circuit boards in their units, that are typically found in components in the $10K to $20K range. I'm not aware of any other company that has these type of high quality parts in their units in the same price range. I went to the Belles address from their website on Google images and it takes you directly to Dave's house, which is a modest middle class home.
He keeps his production factory completely off the radar. His high quality parts remind me of Spectral. The quality of sound from his recent Aria line, is his best work ever. Resulting in a truly perfect balance of the richness of tube sound and the slam of solid state. Belles products are musical treasures, not designed for the commercial side of the high end industry. Products that are produced in smaller numbers, for a limited group of very passionate music lovers. Thats Daves' only purpose.

audiozen - I was one of those people that was obsessed with the audio magazines, the reviews, scouring the internet to find that elusive hidden gem of an audio component that I just knew was out there - I just had to find it. After a good long while, I was hitting the wall, burned out from the chase, and decided the only way to cut to the real chase was to go listen to some stuff and let my ears make the decision. I enjoy reading reviews, and always have, but in retrospect I realized that I had wasted an awful lot of time that could have been better spent listening to music on a great system, and be done with it. Done for the time being; you know how this "musicphile" addiction is!
The only brand that I owned for a long time was Rotel, and I really enjoyed their electronics for many years. An integrated amp, a small receiver back years ago, a very nice cd player and even an analog tuner that I still own. You get used to what you have, but you don’t know what your missing until you start surveying the audio landscape and allow your ears to take a test drive. Many of the magazines are afraid to publish a bad review, not wanting to offend the manufacturer and lose their ad dollars. You aren’t getting an honest assessment, and often the conclusion of the article is not positive or negative.... closing with the likes of " though it may not be for everybody, this amp, speaker, whatever deserves to be heard, and might be just the ticket for your audio needs." Vague and no feathers ruffled.
The Belles Aria sounds amazing to me. My Vandersteen speakers sounded very nice with the Rotel amp, but the Aria brought them to life, and put me front and center in front of the orchestra. The improvement over the Rotel was not subtle.
Having met and spoken with David Belles on several occasions, I can attest with certainty that he is incredibly talented, cares deeply about his customers, and as you stated, audiozen, he prioritizes musicality over all else. He emphasized this goal when I heard him speak about his products, and every time I listen to this amp I’m reminded of just how successfully he has achieved his goals.

I won’t tell you that Belles is the best, but it has been great for me, a great match for my speakers, and to my ears offers a level of audio performance that is simply staggering, at a price that will put a smile on your face.