While I don't depend on Martin Colloms to make my decisions for me, I've come to respect his views. Mr. Colloms is hardly a reviewer that just likes "transistor amps". In as much as he has historicaly praised classic ss amps like Krell, he's just as often consistently offered kind words for classic tube amps like conrad-johnson. That suggests to me, that he has a fairly open mind and can find the qualities in amplifiers regardless of the technology. I haven't read his reviews re: switching amps, but I applaud the undertaking. My own, very limited (let me stress limited) experience with this new technolgy, suggests that they aren't quite at the forefront of amplifier sound, but, have demonstrated remarkable potential. I believe "digital" amps just might be the choice in the future on sound quality alone, never mind all the other inherent benefits.