All valid points and haven't yet heard Ryan's personal views specifically on the cloth mod. However, I believe it was always his intention to have the Tungstens be mod-able to customize for individual preference. After all, his company is called Modhouse.
I did do it on the hybrid pads to bring the perception of detail and air closer to the ultra perforated pads and believe it did partially achieve that objective but hard to tell for sure as can't AB back and forth.
Hadn't realized until recently many were also doing the cloth mod on the stock ultra perforated pads. May try that too down the road.