MAN777, I concur with your experience but with Qatar rather than EK. I travel Qatar quite often to the East and Australia - the 34" on the 777 is really a noticeable different compared with when I normally flew BA out of LHR. The Qatar 330's are a less pleasurable experience however.
But you're right, the whole experience of flying EK or QR out of MAN vs going via LHR is far more appealing.