Well, I've had my Nuforce Ref. 9s for a few weeks now, and I have to say that I am VERY pleased with them. These amps are much more dynamic, have better bass extension and control and are much more revealing than my ARC VT-100 MKII. I've been an all tube guy for years, and I was very happy with the ARC until I heard the Nuforce in my system. The Nuforce amps do NOT sound like any other solid state amp I've ever heard. No, they don't sound like tubes, but they don't sound like the solid state amps I've heard either. I will say this, I don't think I would be as happy with the Nuforce amps if my digital front-end didn't have a tube output stage. The combination of a tube preamp with these amps is perfect for my taste. Last weekend I brought my pair of Nuforce amps to our local audio club meeting and they were driven by a very good quality CD player (with no tube output stage), and to me, the sound was a little too accurate for me. But, everyone's taste is different. I would say that most of the other members of our audio club really liked the sound. I would highly recommend auditioning them in your system if you get a chance. Especially if you have a tube preamp or your CD player has a tube output stage.