Why do my RAW files now look so good with no edits?

Grahemell  wrote Have Adobe been altering the way Lightroom handles raw files. I'm not complaining I'm just interested. I hear a lot of stuff about how Capture One renders raw files initially better than Lightroom, have they been trying to redress this perhaps.

Yes and No.

LR, ACR and whatever other RAW processor you may use always applies something to a RAW file at the time it is Displayed on your computer screen.

For LR and ACR Adobe creates a Base Profile that is Auto Applied to every RAW file. This is different for each make and model of camera.

You can change that to whatever you like without creating and applying an import preset. It is called the Default Settings and can be different for each camera you use.

At the same time that Adobe changed the default profile to Adobe Color (more saturation and contrast - in short, jazzier) the default Amount value in Sharpening was raised from 25 to 40 and in V.P. 5 there is improved rendering of high ISO shadow tones. Users who jump straight into their own editing are probably less aware of changes at the default level, but those who don't venture beyond the default rendering should be seeing a difference from what they obtained a year ago.

Adobe has been improving the profiles for several generations back. I think it was at v7.3 that they started making good improvements.  It used to be that the default profiles, including Adobe Standard were rather flat, Adobe has improved that.

Now for newer cameras, Adobe has increasingly added camera Adobe Standard profiles for specific cameras typically identified as v2. And Lightroom could be automatically applying a V2 profile for your camera. This does not involve user intervention in changing develop camera default settings. And do not confuse this with camera specific profiles that mimic in camera settings.

So, yes improvements in generic profiles, extra standard profiles for specific newer cameras.

https://petapixel.com/2018/04/03/a-closer-look-at-lightrooms-new-and-improved-profiles/

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/03/adobe-updates-lightroom-cc-and-classic-with-improved-profile-support/

April Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw Releases: New Profiles and More | Adobe Blog

P.S. Some cameras are now working with Lightroom Classic in that they pass along and Lightroom accepts additional metadata as to settings. So far, just the Nikon Z6 and Z7, I think. These are various in camera settings that in the past would not be acted upon by Lightroom, not sure if that is embedded data or a sidecar.

Just wondering, what's the default profile that the images come in with? Is it Adobe Color, Adobe Landscape, Adobe Vivid, or another one?

Ever since Adobe overhauled the profile system recently, I've gotten into the habit of trying different profiles because there's often one that produces more satisfying color for a particular image. I'm just wondering if maybe the default profile that's getting assigned to your imports is different than it used to be, since just changing the profile would alter colors even if all other settings were zeroed.

Sounds like you are (accidentally?) applying a develop preset at import.