Its called "Hearing whats really upstream now"
I can tell you this, I just purchased the 8 gauge inductors from northcreek, they are the exact opposite results.. I am running Class A amps directly into them, excellent sound, very smooth, very warm... 125 db deathmetal sounds as smooth as butter!
So you have many other things to look at once again vs. one part you get hung up on. Keep matching you will find something at some point I would assume. But its not due to an inductor being inferior, its because many other things are. You can discount everything everybody says until you hear it yourself as many times as you like, just remember many have put a lot on the table for you to ponder. And by the way thought you had the NC inductor on your woofer? Not the horns?
Mine are now on the woofers and my horns are on ERSE 14 gauge perfect lays with Perfect sound. I have replaced Alpha core Ribbons just out of curiosity. However the Ribbons are really just as good, but different, they might be a little warmer but nowhere near as low of distortion as exhibited by the 8 gauge north creeks, they are virtually impossible of an inductor to saturate.