Hi Shawn, Are you judging based on aural experience or based on sound reproduction? You stated that with the new plinth you "hear more detail in the music, subtle nuances are more prevalent, better instrument separation, especially in complex arrangements." That does not happen by a miracle.
The stylus must track the record groove more precisely to retrieve this sound information. The stylus cannot selectively track the more complex passages and fail at the simpler undulations.
I suspect that you are listening to studio recordings rather than live recordings of acoustic instruments and voices. Studio music sounds flat when heard as originally recorded. Conversely, acoustic instruments have timber and when recorded in a hall (like classical music), they have an ambient sound. Nothing is added artificially, like reverberation in studio-recorded music.
Before your new plinth, you believed your listening experience was like hearing a "live" performance. But what you really were hearing is echo of the energy from the stylus tracing the groove and the energy resonating back into the stylus rather than being absorbed in the massive plinth. Thus, it gave it a fuller sound, yet with less sonic detail, as you stated.
I suggest you listen to your new plinth for a while and experience what you have been missing.
The stylus must track the record groove more precisely to retrieve this sound information. The stylus cannot selectively track the more complex passages and fail at the simpler undulations.
I suspect that you are listening to studio recordings rather than live recordings of acoustic instruments and voices. Studio music sounds flat when heard as originally recorded. Conversely, acoustic instruments have timber and when recorded in a hall (like classical music), they have an ambient sound. Nothing is added artificially, like reverberation in studio-recorded music.
Before your new plinth, you believed your listening experience was like hearing a "live" performance. But what you really were hearing is echo of the energy from the stylus tracing the groove and the energy resonating back into the stylus rather than being absorbed in the massive plinth. Thus, it gave it a fuller sound, yet with less sonic detail, as you stated.
I suggest you listen to your new plinth for a while and experience what you have been missing.