A deeper more holographic soundstage.

More than anything it's the room.
I currently have an all tube setup (Don Sachs/Primaluna/Salk) and don't have nearly the soundstage I had in my old home.

Back then, I had a NOS Carver TFM35, a amp that has always been described as "nice upper end detail but lacking bass and having a 2D soundstage". In that room, with a humble Technics 1200mk2 and a AT7V cartridge, I got a deeper and wider soundstage.

I have much better equipment now...and there are some things that do sound better...no doubt.  But I am so curious to know what this system would sound like in my old room.

Here are a list of the things that I did that made the biggest difference from most effective to least effective:

1. I had a very good acoustical ceiling. Not the soft kind with asbestos...this was a 1950s concrete product. You would need to tear the ceiling to the beams to remove it. Acoustic ceilings get a bad rap...these things are golden for a good sounding room.

2. Nothing between the speakers but air. A year ago I would have put this at number 1 but I do believe the ceiling is more important now. I had the audio rack along the side wall...quite a bit away from the speakers. I was considering putting the rack on the other side of the wall in the bedroom and just having the speakers in the living room.  That would have been inconvenient but maybe completely remarkable! 

3. I followed the 1/5 rule: Tweeters 1/5 of room width from side walls. I could not follow the 1/5 from room depth for tweeters and listening position. Tweak from there.

4. Remove all reflective artwork from the walls.  Replace with wood carvings, framed tapestries etc.. Also try to mirror image the left and right walls as much as possible. My walls looked like a dense collage of artifacts.

5. A big, heavy Persian rug with heavy felt pad underneath. None of that non-slip netting stuff.
 

+1 sandthemall.

I am going to offend some people but I really question what their systems sound like no matter the superlatives. You have experienced yourself. There really is no substitute for acoustic treatment though advanced DSP like the BACHH may have some strong ability as noted with directional speakers.

More than anything it’s the room.

A balance between diffusion surface and volume, reflection and absorbtion is decisive... No room is similar even with the same form and the same number of doors and windows at the same place...

Why?

Because the acoustical properties of the furnitures and walls and ceilings and of the floor can be different between these 2 similar rooms...

Then even with same geometry and topology. the acoustical content that constitute the building room and furnitures will act dramatically...

In my room the soundstage and imaging and even timbre perception was increased greatly by the right balance between reflection, absorption and diffusion...

Just one tip to make you smile but it work: sound waves hate empty corner...

I replace 4 of my 5 ceiling corners with polyedral flowing shape...i use five cents materials... Results: increase in the perception particularlyof high frequencies and more refine sound all across the scale...My room was already heavily controls tough....it is just an example of what can work in a specific room...

In acoustic small change can made great improvement...

"Reading all the comments really demonstrates there's a long way to go in audio before we all agree. It almost seems totally subjective and opinion driven sometimes."

@jimofmaine.....*G*  Heart of the matter, frankly.  Mho, the only thing that can be said to be in total agreement is that things plug into each other.

Until Bluteeth and other wireless occurred....blew That away.....*shrug*

I have no proof of this but life experience:

But I also think there are certain ways your brain 'likes to...or prefers to' listen to sound. Probably different for everyone. I went deaf in my left ear for a few months in 2020 and now that I have recovered what I lost, I appreciate what your brain does to compensate. You need around 40-50% hearing in one ear to begin to 'place' and locate things in space.

For some reason, I don't hear a better soundstage when I close my eyes...even in the dark.  I do 'feel' like I hear a better sonic picture when the room is dimly lit and my eyes are open and looking somewhere between the speakers (in a blurry gaze) but obviously thinking about the music.

I'm sure a lot of you have certain conditions that you prefer when doing critical listening.