Okay, so I've had the Piano M1 here for a few weeks, and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever heard a better CD based system, and I've had quite a few since my first in 1984.
Some background. I was an early adopter, I just couldn't get into LPs because of all the pops, clicks and distortion that you get when you don't take the time to set up a properly tuned analog system. I was 16 and had neither the money or the patience for such an undertaking. Besides, the equipment I had at the time was decidedly "mid-to-lo-fi" (JVC reciever, borrowed el-cheapo speakers), so the Sanyo CD player (with CORDED remote) was a huge step up in sound quality. As time went on, I steadily bought better and better quality equipment, but rather than bringing me more enjoyment of the music, the opposite happened - I started to hear what people were saying was wrong with CDs. The harshness in the treble had my ears ringing, I couldn't listen for much more than half an hour, it eventually drove me away from listening regularly, and the amount of music I purchased (remember CD stores?) fell drastically. That was around 1989-90.
Cut to around two years ago, surfing around the interwebs (thanks for the invention, Al Gore), I came across a site called Computer Audiophile which got me hooked on the idea of computer-based music system. You mean I can load all my tunes onto my PC, and it can sound BETTER than a CD-based system? Wow, sign be up! That led me to a company called Devilsound, which through Positive Feedback magazine, which led me to a little company called Virtue Audio, and here we are.
Anyhoo, back to the Piano M1. I suspect its tube-like, laid-back sound has a lot to do with the DAC it uses, the TDA 1543. The same chip powers the DAC I use in my computer set-up, a Valab, and the two set-ups I have sound very similar. Deep, effortless bass, liquid mids and accurate but never harsh highs. The word "organic" keeps coming to mind, it just sounds "right". I'm not a professional reviewer or a poet, that's just how I see it. And I'm back to buying music like a fiend, all the stuff I meant to get before I stopped in '89. So, if you still like to spin the little silver discs now and then, I can't recommend anyone's gear higher than Seth's.