Marc, do you really think that one can identify accurately the contribution of an unfamiliar component, in this case a turntable, in an unfamiliar system, in an unfamiliar room, and make a claim about how that turntable contributes to the sound and then make a claim about a sonic attribute relative and in comparison to his own turntable in his own system, all during a brief listening session with someone else's music in a crowded room? It seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
I suppose he could comment on the overall resolution if the recording is familiar to him, and perhaps also the noise floor and pitch accuracy of the recording as played on what I assume is a very transparent and revealing system.
I appreciate comments about the whole system in that room particular room context and descriptions about specific sonic attributes. That is fine, but how does one isolate the sound of one component relative to the rest of the system?