Thank you for your answer although I must confess that it is not entirely clear to me what you are saying in all particulars. So I will not respond to the parts where I do not fully comprehend your answer. We can agree that everyone of us has unique experiences and that it is difficult to share points of view based on different experiences, references, environments and so on. Nevertheless it can be worthwhile to discuss matters of mutual interest even if our diverse backgrounds prevent full accord. So, I don't agree that it is useless to try.
Although I am an engineer, I am not an electrical engineer and am not qualified to discuss circuit designs or the relative merits of same. I think we can agree that faithfulness to a spcification such as, but not limited to, the RIAA equalization curve would be sine qua non to achieving reasonable sound reproduction. You argue to strive for reproduced sound that is comparable to live music. Although we can agree that this is a noble goal, I suspect we differ on weather it is possible to do so in any practical sense. This is an interesting subject, but far removed from the subject of phono preamps. Nevertheless, since you raise the point, let me comment briefly.
The difficulty is the acoustic environment that a reproduction system is called upon to operate in. It is not and cannot be identical with the one where the recording was made, unless both the live and the recorded result are both listened to in the same space. Although that can be done and has been done, it is not what most of us do in our recorded music lives. As such, it is better to acquiesce to the reality that for most music reproduction the playback environment will be different from the original performance environment. That fact makes using the standard of live performance less practical than perhaps we would wish it to be in an ideal sense. In it's place we substitute various components and compare one vs. the other. Not ideal, but that is what we do, or at least that is what I do. With that said, in my listening room I have a piano and a set of drums and a lot of hand percussion instruments. So I do try to seek the holy grail, but alas my piano sounds different from an identical one played elsewhere, and even something as simple as a triangle or a ride cymbal sounds quite different in my home as compared to that same triangle or cymbal played out in performance. Too, a piano sounds different if heard at the instrument playing it on stage vs. hearing it played by someone else while standing anywhere out in the audience section. Cymbals, triangles, snare drums and on and on all sound different at various locations because of the reflections, reverberations, and so on imposed by the environment.
So, back to phono stages. I listen to music that I am familiar with; first with one phono stage, and then with the other. Most of the time, using good recordings, it is possible to hear a difference. Usually I prefer one over the other. And usually I prefer the sound of tubes although noise can intrude. This is never more true than with LOMC cartridges, even very expensive ones. And when this noise intrudes I have found that a good step-up transformer is the best solution. Now, I think the conversation is back where we began. I like green, you like yellow. Is the conversation useless?
