Some more comparisions

Some more pictures comparing the new shader, blur and no blur, with the old parallax diffuse shader.

No blur:

Blur:

Parallax Diffuse:

  

Looking at these, I really think the second one with blur is the best. It isn't as harsh as the one with no blur. Also, it's arguable if the height is enough. Adding more height would make a more poping effect, but I do need to have in mind that bricks really don't have some much of a pop effect.    

This is a comparison using the blurred height map with different heights:

Same height as above:

Slightly more height:

There is no big difference here, as I only added a very small amount of height, but the difference could really make an indirect impact on the user even if the user doesn't really see a direct difference.

Though, this is a secondary question. The most important thing in this project is that the shader can do both, then it's up to then end user of the shader to decide what is best for the particular scene.