I only used the Cole with the Silvercore SUTs, so my experience may not be representative. I went from a Messenger to a Zanden (or maybe vice versa) and then an FM Acoustics 122 to the Cole and do not feel that I enjoyed music any less with the Cole than the others. The only problem I encountered was that the Cole was more prone to picking up hum than the others with low output MCs. I think that the Cole (and Vinyl Song) are great value for the money.