The only issue I can take here is that the cartridges you are choosing here are frugal choices, well under $1000, and that may be the culprit here.  I do not own carts over $1000, but I would guarantee that if you read MF's (Michael Fremer) montly reviews, you will find he loses very little when transferring to digital with the extremely high end system he has.  He has a turntable system worth well over $100,000, and the times he has provided cd-r's to radio shows he is asked to join, he is not experiencing any of the same lossy issues you report above when burning cd-r's of the lps he records.  (Granted, he is using a fairly frugal Benchmark ADC with his extremely expensive playback system- $400,000 plus.)

I would suggest reading more of his articles to get a better handle on the process, and the results he is experiencing month to month.  I don't mean to invalidate your findings, but the distortion levels you are finding in your research are endemic of the price level you (and I) are stuck with.  I honestly think if you were privy to a much higher level of playback in the analog and digital realm, many of your findings would be moot (no offense intended). I do respect your effort to get at the truth.

Perhaps JA could validate your ADC sampling frequency findings, but I believe there is a lot more to the picture. Perhaps if you sent an email direct to MF he could point you in the right direction. 

Great topic and discussion. My guess for some of your measurement and distortion ideas would be found in tyhe phono pre-amp arena, as well as perhaps your electricty itself. But I haven't gone too far into exploring the topic as you have. I still prefer just playing my LPs and when I digitize them via a small outboard USB A/D box, it's purely for conveinince of travel, work, etc. and not as a replacement.

REVIEW THOUGHTS: You'll find a diliniation in the review process. There is the monthly collumn format, where the writer can review anything or nothing if they want. Often it's several reviews, like a grouping, along with whatever else is on their mind. My assumption is that these "reviews" are too many, and often far away from JA, to have him measure them all, so he doesn't do any of them. It's not just Fremer, it's Marks, Tellig and now Mejias, along with all regular collumns. It's too bad, but I think they'd need at least another full time staff to do it all.

Then there are the dedicated reviews. These all get the measurement treatment, and the reviews are generally more extensive and controlled. Unfortunately, there are many times I want to see a few more spec.s and measurements on those mini reviews we get, but over time I pretty much get what each reviewers bias's are, and and would be able to comfortably know which I want to hear more of if I were buying.

For instance I know that I pretty much don't agree with most of Sam Tellig's preferences in amps or speakers, so it'd be unlikely I'd be using his reviews as a basisi for buying etc.

Fremer, when he decends from the ivory tower and reviews somehting I could maybe buy, happens to almost always like the kind of gear I do. In fact several of my primary pieces are ones he liked a lot.