It would be nice to have Mr Sawyers input. Maybe, like most of us audiophiles, he got very excited with the new sounds he was hearing, but after a while he went back to the original mat and it had the same effect. After all most tweaks are just trade-offs. If you notice, later in the thread someone called it hyperbole and Mr Sawyer, unlike many audiophiles, did not get offended, but, like a real gentleman, showed open-mindedness by admitting that, yes, the possibility was there.
That’s my take on it, but I could be completely wrong, he might have just changed turntables and the mat did not work well with his new table.