Digital amps are tricky beasts!!! My feeling is that they work well with some speakers and bad with others...as to why????? Who knows??????? I love my Spectron MII (which will soon be a MIII). I know a lot of people who favor more convential amps...and to be honest...I could definetly see how people with planar/ribbon speakers would (I could see the spectron sounding a little to thin perhaps on them). But, for my VR4 Gen III SE's, it just works (+ it comes with a number of conviences...like..I leave it on all the time so it is always ready to go...and..I get hot easily so tube/class A amps are out of the question for me. It all comes down to personal opinion. I have yet to hear an amp that makes me want to sell my Spectron. But again, that all relates to my tastes. If I had to describe the Spectron MII, the things that come to mind are trnasperency and speed with a touch of warmth. Compare it to solid state, and it sometimes seems tube like, but compare it to tubes and it sounds solid state like. I like it..but you may not. Lets put it this way, I have a meitner front end and do not feel that the spectron limits it's performance in any way.