I've never had a Compass Rose and I've been wanting a quality concert with a side port. This came up on the HMS site and I went for it.
It arrived yesterday. Very interesting uke, not like anything else I've seen. On the negative side it comes with wierd vintage type tuning pegs that have an open slot at the top. I tried to put in Southcoast Strings but could not get them to stick. It arrived with a low G that I thought was too floppy. After much messing with strings I ended up changing only the G to a D'Addario Nyltech which seems to match the strings it came with.
The feel of the instrument is really great. It's very playable. It is also loud, of course this is heightened by the side port. The neck is almost as thick as Pono. It's ok for me in a concert size, but I'm still not 100% comfortable with the Pono necks in a tenor. I think that is because it appears to have a rod up the neck.
The sound is what makes it really interesting. It doesn't sound like any other uke I've ever played. I would describe the sound as very guitar-like. I'm not sure I'd want this for my only uke, but playing stuff I play a lot it is fun. I can hear a lot of things very differently. I could see this being a very nice uke for jazz solos.