Even though I am brand new to this forum, I feel compelled to comment on the ILounge LCR Mk III review. I have had this mode Lounge in my system for about 9 months now. The smooth, three dimensional sound with amazing spatial imaging I get from Robert’s Lounge phono preamp is beyond reproach. I have been an avid audiophile for 30+ years and have yet to have found a phone preamp loved more... and that includes some that were crazy amounts of money. My Lounge is connected to a Music Hall MMF-7.3 with an Ortofon Bronze cartridge played through a Musical Fidelity M2si integrated amp into Tekton Double Impact speakers. From my experience, musical appreciation of a particular audio component (especially phono gear!) is rarely, if ever, revealed in prestine signal to noise specifications and diminishingly low distortion numbers.
Although I share Amir's sentiment about blind listening test (and I have done many myself - failed many and passed many, and I've kept the logs of many of them), then I would also make a case for Motorradmike's position in the subjectivist sense:
He likes a specific sound. Many objectivists seem to say that fidelity is the most important thing, and to a large extent I agree (I for instance refuse to pay for tubes and other products that ruin the signal). But we should remember that we are after all listening to music and that's supposed to sound good.
Vinyl playback is in itself of much lower fidelity than digital, despite the claims being screamed out at full lungs from nutcases like Michael Fremer and his minions. But still, it can create a certain sound that sounds more pleasing to many/most people, which usually happens by changing the frequency response (and to a lesser extent by adding distortion) - which is exactly the case with the phono preamp under review here. The altered frequency response of the Lounge phono preamp will surely be audible.
I bought a very linear phono cartridge around 8 months ago, and all my good records sounded fine, but all the less than stellar records, which is most of my collection, sounded exactly like that - less than stellar. So, instead I bought two other cartridges with less linear frequency responses, which simply made my records sound much more pleasant.
I've also been remastering a lot of music lately for my own purposes, and I usually remaster them in more or less the same way. Although the changes I make are not identical to the frequeny response of the Lounge phono preamp, it's not all that different - and that is because certain frequencies are more pleasant than others. The problem with a lot of modern day music is that there's too much energy in the harshness region, and almost all phono cartridges have a dip in that region, followed by a boost around 10-12 kHz (which sound more plesant than the harshness region), and often also a bass boost, which is how I usually remaster music.
I think this explains a lot of vinyl lovers disdain for digital: They cannot stand the sound of the harshness region. But this is not because digital is a broken technology, quite the opposite since digital is a perfect replica, but because the vinyl lovers don't like the final product that came out of the studio - and I often sure don't like that final product either, which is why I'm remastering so much music.
So, there's nothing wrong with liking a specific sound, as long as we're honest about this. Many vinyl lovers seem to hate treble, and that's okay, as long as they're honest about it instead of claiming that vinyl is higher fidelity.