David, do you feel the same way about other tweaks such as cable risers or spikes/footers, isolation platforms etc? How do you actually define "tweak"?
I consider isolation platforms, racks, etc., system components not tweaks and like everything else there are better and worse ones. As far as footers go, every hard type I tried as something you simply deposit your electronics on yielded exactly the same type of coloration, irrespective of design and/or materials used and soft gooey types have their own color. Pucks and things one sticks on top of electronics are no different, I don't know the how or why but they seem to effect the sound similar to one another, just some I found more harmful than others. The one exception I've come across are Shun mooks, when applied correctly and judiciously some of their products have worked as promised without imposing any discernible coloration on the system. There's nothing wrong with tweaks if one enjoys their effect, just be aware that a black or velvety background as brought up here is a strong coloration, it replaces the ambience of the recording. A live recording in a club has noise and a very different ambience, sound stage, imaging, etc., from one in a concert hall which is in turn very different from a studio recording. Its a coloration when everything thing you play has exactly the same type of "Black, Quiet?" background and instruments get highlighted in the soundstage similarly on every recording and in their own confined and defined space and not removal of noise as claimed by the manufacturers/vendors of such devices. Goes for cables, conditioners, etc. too. In the real world there's always some kind of noise and ambience present, maybe more palpable on some recordings than others but its always there. I have never in my life experienced this kind of applied "Blackness" even in the quietest and most remote places I've visited, no less a man made structure of any kind, everything has its own ambience, environment or whatever else you like to call it.
david