Well, I am not surprised that there are those that will fight the spring tamper corner and those who don’t, and I get where you are coming from, dfk41. However, my reason for bringing up the subject, was what I have experienced using the same beans, the same amount, going through the exact same puck prep, having the grind size the same on my Niche, there have been differences from one day to another on the flow. My inexperienced reasoning for this, considering everything being the same as stated, was perhaps my tamp pressure fluctuates thus making the puck more or less porous and therefore, the constant of the sprung tamper would eliminate it. I also, give a few turns of a leveller first to ensure a perfectly level puck to try and eliminate that, before then using my tamper to press it home. Sometimes it works and other times it just flows too quick, which does surely affect the taste.
But, I will persevere a bit longer before making a decision and as always people, thanks for listening and your invaluable advice.