“Since SC tells us that active participation is to be achieved above all else …”

This is not correct. The accurate translation is ACTUAL PARTICIPATION and there is a world of difference between ACTIVE and ACTUAL. A congregation may actively participate without entering at all into the real or actual spirit of the Sacred Liturgy. It is precisely this which Sacrosanctum Concilium was concerned about. Namely, enabling the faithful to enter more deeply into the numinous (a word you used).

A quiet Mass (“a lousy option” to use your description, may indeed help people enter more deeply into the spirit of the Sacred Liturgy, so long as Mass is offered reverently.