First off, I'm a relatively seasoned, somewhat jaded audiophile, decades of changes has informed me vast, vast majority of changes are only incremental, they can be negative, lateral, in that change is simply that, or positive. The way it normally works is many positive incremental changes add up to sea changes, these happen almost without notice. And then we have the rare change so profound it imposes an entirely fresh perspective. Adding the Gaia has been one of these rare changes that results in new insights.
The first thing I'll mention is the sheer resolving power of what I'm hearing, a noise floor that seems to subside into infinity or the blackest of black holes. I now hear the slightest inflections of voice, the touch of strings and the movement of the bow across those strings, with woodwinds the slightest intonation of breath. The result is a newfound intimacy with performers which brings about greater emotional involvement with the music. Allied to that is a more expansive sound stage with these fully developed dimensional ethereal images. Hate to use this word, but organic is what comes to mind. The illusion of live performers in my room comes so easily, no need for trickery of the mind to get here.
Crash tab break, in troubleshoot mode in order to try to alleviate.