It's funny yet typical that people have different experiences with the same piece of gear. I agree wholeheartedly with Jafox's tube discussion as his experience is the same as mine - I have 8 Telefunken 12AX7s and 4 Brimars in mine (and I bought them and paid a premium from a reputable dealer I trust to get top quality matched tubes), Amperex in the 6922 spot and the Mullard EL 34s Jafox discusses. However, where our experiences differ is in the XLR vs RCA arena. In one configuration of my system the XLR sounded better and in my current system I prefer the RCA cables. So, as always, each person has to make that determination with his/her own ears based on their system, sonic preferences and hearing acuity.
Jafox, I presume you now have the Aria? Sure sounds like a great piece.
Jafox, I presume you now have the Aria? Sure sounds like a great piece.