First the Sowter. It sounds smooth and has a big bottom end. The highs are a tad layed back and soft. Mids are good. Although I would not call the sound boring, it does only seldom draw any attention to itself. Soundstage is there but not very wide. Great for Jazz, but falls apart on classical music.
The Lundahl. It lacks a bit in the bottom end compared to the sowter, but what's there is fast and clean. The highs are a lot more pronounced, but not harsh. It has a lot of detail and is very lifelike. Great soundstage, expands to beyond the speakers.
Final verdict: The sowter is a big improvement compared to most stock CD-players, but the sound just does not interrest me much. I keep skipping to the next track. The Lundahl is more high-end, and I often can't shut the music off. My girlfriend would advise to buy the Sowter :-)
Note1: I came up with the idea to do a review when I bought them both a half year ago. If the Sowter would have outperformed the Lundahl then I would have posted it here too.
Note2: Setup: DAC output I/V conversion by a 27 Ohm AudioNote tantalum, followed by either the Sowter or the Lundahl. The Sowter is 1:18.7, the Lundahl is wired 1:20 (alt E). The outputs of the transformers are directly wired to the grids of a PP 5687 circuit (Olson's 'Raven').