VPI Turntable Motor Pop - Did I Damage My Analog System?

I'm quite a bit deflated and numb, and not sure what to do.

I have a VPI Signature Classic that has the well known issue of the loud pop through the speakers when the turntable motor is turned off.  I never perused the fix of soldering a capacitor into the system.  As a work-a-round, I do what a lot of folks do and mute the system by turning down the volume or change the input on the integrated amp.
The other evening, I forgot to mute the system before turning off the TT motor and the pop I got out of the speakers seemed to contain a heck of a lot more energy/volume than usual.  In ten months I've probably forgotten to mute the system only a handful of times, mostly when I first got the system.  The unusual volume of the pop was somewhat alarming.  I thought maybe the dry air caused more static buld-up in the system for I was noticing a bit more static buildup on some of the pressings.  When I removed the record, the platter mat would stick to the vinyl.  Though, not with every pressing.

Again, I was alarmed at the volume of the pop and after cleaning the stylus, I continued my listening session it seemed like things weren't quite the same!  To the average person, I don't think they would have noticed a difference but to me, something was wrong.  The airiness of the sound disappeared.  The depth of the sound stage disappeared.  Some of the sound on the vinyl seemed to disappear.  I would describe it as "what a 60 year old pristine white hot stamper might sound like before a deep cleaning. 

To confirm that these subtle changes in sound weren't my imagination, I did an A/B comparison using some of my  reference vinyl against my digital system using streamed lossless files. I do this every so often just to confirm my analog side is "up to snuff" and to remind my self why I am so pleased with listening to vinyl!   Unfortunately, the A/B test confirmed my fears. I could barley tell the difference between my analog and digital systems.

If in fact this "pop" damaged something in my analog system, what component(s) were likely damaged; cartridge, TT, phono pre-amp, integrated amp, speakers, subs?   I'm just incredibly deflated and paralyzed with angst, and don't know where to start to solve this problem. 

-IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius power conditioner- VPI Classic Signature TT- Soundsmith Paua mk II (low output  >0.4 mV)
- Manley Chinook Phone Stage - Primaluna integrated tube amp.- Focal Aria 936 speakers- 2- Rel S/3"s
With that said, I gotta ask this question:  What is the likelihood a pop like this could/did actually cause any damage to a system?    I did a lot of searching and though the VPI pop is a common issue, I found no others that experienced damage from this pop when turning off a VPI turntable. 

One last piece of information:  The reason I turned off the turntable was to clean the stylus before continuing the listening session.  I clean my stylus with a "sticky gel bubble" and sometimes, but not always, the stylus sticks to the bubble when raising the tone arm up from the sticky bubble.  In fact, this is one of those times the stylus stuck to the cleaning bubble when lifting the tone arm.  Could this have misaligned the stylus in some fashion?  If yes, would adjusting the VTA be an appropriate remedy? (I'm grasping at straws).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.