Good write up. He missed at least one major difference - remote control of functions like inputs. For example Denafrips has none. After having this feature, I couldn’t live without it.
I have the Pontus ll and I thought about it not having a remote, but once I set it up, I rarely change anything. I have a Hegel H390 and it offers a DAC Loop option, where everything runs through the DAC, so the Hegel’s remote does the changes from streamer to CD transport and back.