I listened to this phono preamp a couple of years ago and immediately found it to be characteristic of Esoteric's house sound -- very cleaning, neutral sounding with gobs of details and frequency extension. It does all the analytical qualities right without sounding sterile or emotionless.
Another similar sounding phono preamp but with more warmth and possibly slightly more bloom (not that the E-03 is lacking in this department) is the Pass XP series phono preamps.
Another similar sounding phono preamp but with more warmth and possibly slightly more bloom (not that the E-03 is lacking in this department) is the Pass XP series phono preamps.