I owned the Coincident Statement Line stage and the Supratek Syrah preamp, which is a Chardonnay plus a built in phono stage. The CSLS is a better preamp sonically than the Syrah. The phono stage in the Syrah is superb, though. I would recommend moving up to the Cortese if you are wanting to buy a Supratek product. I owned the Cortese also, and it was decidedly better than the Syrah.
Regarding the tonal qualities of the CSLS, my initial impression of the CSLS was similar to the OP’s. However, I found a dac and cables that I like that tailored the sound more to my liking. So maybe this is a compliment for the CSLS. The CSLS allows one to easily hear differences in sources and cabling. I moved on from the CSLS, mainly because I wanted a remote volume control, not because of the lack of any sonic quality of the CSLS.
Regarding the tonal qualities of the CSLS, my initial impression of the CSLS was similar to the OP’s. However, I found a dac and cables that I like that tailored the sound more to my liking. So maybe this is a compliment for the CSLS. The CSLS allows one to easily hear differences in sources and cabling. I moved on from the CSLS, mainly because I wanted a remote volume control, not because of the lack of any sonic quality of the CSLS.