Brilliance Reviews

Belleson Brilliance phono preamplifier

September 2025, reviewed by Tom Fine and John Atkinson

Because it imposes so little of its own character on music, it allowed the character of each cartridge to shine through...If you are serious about playing records, and desire control over the parameters that mate a cartridge to a preamp just so, I recommend you check out the Belleson Brilliance. Brian Lowe has designed a modern, wireless-connected device that gives just about any cartridge a chance to sound great. Its mission seems in service of the cartridge: enable its best sound and then give it life through clean gain and accurate RIAA de-emphasis. That is no small task, and it was a pleasure to hear it done so well with such a wide variety of cartridges.

October 2025, Recommended components "A" Rating

Even when he cranked the system volume to the max, he heard no hum with either input. “Impressive!”

The Spin Doctor

April 2024 by Michael Trei, "The Spin Doctor"

I was impressed by their Brilliance phono preamp

Belleson Brilliance Phono Preamp Lives Up to its name

reviewed by Michael Fremer

What stood out above all else—and this was obvious on known and unknown recordings, was the Brilliance's suppleness, the roundness and textural generosity of acoustic instruments. The presentation one expects and gets from tube phono preamps, but here it's combined with no additives and greater delicacy and against a quieter backdrop—more like the circa $80,000 HSE Masterline 7 I reviewed for TAS and Jacob Heilbrunn reviewed here.

Part Time Audiophile

reviewed by Marc Phillips

Reviewers Choice Award

...the Belleson Brilliance sounded very smooth without sacrificing detail. Smooth, and quiet. Super quiet...I noticed this quiet in relation to other phono preamplifiers in the house–so it stood out...The Brilliance has a way of rendering the music into spaces and shapes that we hear in the real world, thanks to an uncommon talent for capturing those subliminal cues which define the differences between live performances and mere reproduction.