Is the magic in shindo or verity?

I was totally blown away by an inexpensive system. After hearing magico minis II with solution tube amps and zanden cd player, I went to hear the verity fidelio driven by all shindo. Shindo amp -75 watt, preamp the one above monribson. Of course vinyl was the source, a gerrard based shindo rebuild turntable .
The sound was remarkably life-like.
What was the key player that made this sound so much better than most other systems I have heard? I know synergy is the key, but does the shindo make everything sound good or do these verity's always sound good? It actually made me forget mbl's.