OK, there's no way that was a balanced post so I'll try add a few more comments here.
The Aria is a fast amp and such, it's not a very romantic or euphonic amp. And in spite of the audiophile prejudice, I don't necessarily mean euphonic in a bad way. Personally, I couldn't care less if the sound is "true to the original" or not but fact is that it usually sounds better that way since as mentioned above, I believe that different music and different styles simply sound better when they sound differently as they're supposed to. However, if one likes the extra touch of tubes or other euphonic characteristic, I think that's just a different perspective and matter of preference. Further, a slight bias towards one direction doesn't make an amp automatically coloured or inaccurate. But even it does become "inaccurate" (by whatever standard that is to be defined), I still think that's ok. To use a headphone analogy: If Grados only sound good with rock and I only listen to rock, who cares? (Grado fans have to excuse this simplified example.)
Further, I still hold the contention that the Aria is not a bass-monger. Quality, especially bass texture and depth, is very high. The bass is snappy and detailed. Frankly, it has everything you could wish for in a quality bass, but it just lacks that extra tick of slam for me. Perhaps it's the Hd 650 but I somehow doubt it.
As any other amp, I think the Aria is not devoid of any specific traits either. In the case of the Aria, it would be a certain dryness it exhibits. Restated as a technical merit, it would probably pass under "focus" amongst other things. Whereas a mediocre amp blends several instruments together both in the plane parallel to the face and the perpendicular direction, the Aria separates instruments and voices very clearly with sharp boundaries, which also leads to a very holographic soundstage experience by the way (due to a lesser degree of mushing up the sound and hence better layering).
The edges are pretty hard and distinct, which is also where we transfer into another technical area of the Aria, which is its transient response. The notes fall hard and without a lot of cushioning. So we have both speed and weight to the notes leading to a pretty impressive attack. Nevertheless, I doubt that this kind of sound is for everyone, especially when looking for something more cozy and relaxing.
But where there's less blending-together, I think that's where the term "silent" also applies pretty well. It is insofar a silent amp because firstly it doesn' make any noise (obvious one) but secondly because there's silence between notes where silence is supposed to be. And once we look at the fast falling and rising notes from a different angle, it's not difficult to see why magazine reviewers often associate "silence" with good dynamics. Just my take on it of course.
All things considered, I think there's nothing wrong if the rising notes would take it a bit easier and again, it's a preference thing IMO. As a trade-off to dry, I think the Aria can't be liquid at the same time. This is getting very difficult to describe, so I can only say that in spite of the sound coherency, it doesn't sound liquid in way that would melt you away when listening to it. I hope this description isn't too confusing but that as far as my words can carry me.
In closing, the Aria certainly is not a wonder amp to suit all tastes (standard caveat). No such thing as one-amp-fits-all. There's no mistaking that it's still a solid-state amp and it doesn't try to hide that fact. However, I think it combines a lot of virtues that make SS amps sound so good and accurate without having to resort to graininess or other unpleasant issues so commonly associated with SS gear.