@karl_desch , that is what people say, "I like what I hear," when in reality, "I like what I see," is more appropriate. It could also be that people like antique things or the price. The criteria you mentioned I hold to are aimed at reducing distortion, sound that was not in the recording. It is a hopeless thing to do with turntables but that is the neurosis. Thus it might also be what distortion people like most.
The turntable is a vibration measurement machine, any vibration. The world is polluted with noise, vibration. Hearing what is on the record means isolating the whole affair from other vibrations, ones that are not supposed to be there. This along with lack of noise/rumble and stable pitch tell you 90% of everything you need to know about turntable performance.
Another problem I see in forums which leads to dissimilar opinions is that we all listen differently. We tend to pay attention to our pet aspects of performance and like everything else with humans there is a wide range of hearing ability.
As people are readily aware, flowery descriptive terms of turntable performance do not cut it with me. Save it for the wine. What are you actually hearing and what is your reference? As compared to what? It is unfortunate but, what one person thinks they hear is anecdotal and means not much of anything. I include myself in the one person category and frequently ruminate over whether or not what I think I hear is real. If you have 3 or 4 people hearing a similar characteristic as a group in an isolated situation you are beginning to make me a believer. If they can all identify the subject blinded you have hit the Lotto.