Actually, just about every "framebuilder" that you can identify by name make fine quality products. Bad frames are also built by framebuilders, but they are anonymous people paid to turn out product as cheaply and quickly as possible. They don't have the "luxury" (it's debateable how luxurious it really is) to be a true craftsman.
That C'dale rode just like C'dales are supposed to ride: stiff, responsive, uncomfortable. They pretty much wrote the book on modern oversized alu frames and that's exactly what they were aiming for. They're good racing bikes, it just sounds like you didn't have the right bike for how you want to ride.
The "book" (it's really just a collection of short introductory articles) was written by Scot Nichol, by the way, the guy who founded Ibis.