FYI. This comes up now and then, with pretty much the same conclusion -- artificially creating a stereo sense of "width" sounds, well, artificial!
http://blog.discmakers.com/2016/04/...1&spJobID=921242205&spReportId=OTIxMjQyMjA1S0
http://blog.discmakers.com/2016/04/...1&spJobID=921242205&spReportId=OTIxMjQyMjA1S0