I really like the autoformers the pre uses. I don't need any gain with my amps and speakers. The Mac was way overkill. The Sonic Euphoria does a great job of getting out of the way of the music. There is a lot of air and detail.
The Lounge phono stage is nice out of the box. I expect it to get even better with time. It is an outstanding bang for the buck.
Yes, tapes are from The Tape Project. It doesn't get any better than these with a good deck. Analog goodness with CD black background. As for a deck, I really like the Tascam BR20 I'm using. Other options are the Revox C270, Technics RS1500, and Otari MX-5050.