Do you ever think that most of it, the adjectives you used to describe your system are nothing more than a concerted effort on your part to hear those things, aspects of sound in a wishful thinking sort of way? Do other people hear the same improvements that you do? Isn’t the newfound bloom and decay in every note a sort of byproduct of the better clarity that you achieved?
Here, let me give an example: I purchase a new pair of speakers and my amplifier doesn’t seem up to the task of powering it, I go out and get something else that’s up to the task. Now when I listen to a recording I know well, let’s take my favorite drum solo, "Storm", by Billy Cobham which is short, direct, and to the point. In the 2 or so minutes, there’s this (phase shifting ?) sound processing going on in the recording that I always heard but now because of the better dynamics, punch, and impact of the new amp, this sonic manipulation became something altogether different, really adding to the performance. I then later put back the old amplifier and I hear basically the same improvement but maybe less of it along with less of everything else I just described. I guess my point is that even without the new equipment I can hear these improvements now because I know that they are there now, helped by the more powerful sounding amp to guide me there. I hope that makes some sense. In a way, the new amp made my old amp sound better?