Well, I have access to neither but I'm trying to understand why subjective reviews seem to favor the 8C and all I have is measurements. Good measurements, but still just measurements... So this is one case where I was more interested in the 'subjective' aspect of your article
Specifically, I've been interested in getting a 20(ish)-20 speaker for some time now. As I see it, the options are:
Buchardt - lowest cost, controlled but not exactly cardioid, minimum distance 75cm with nearfield tuning, but also poor(-ish) vertical directivity *in the context of nearfield*
Mesanovic - good but slightly incomplete measurements, some debate around ribbon tweeter, per manual minimum distance 1.5m which probably disqualifies for nearfield
8C - slightly less than Kii, directive to about 100Hz, minimum distance 80cm (per D&D support)
Kii - directive to about 60Hz, minimum listening distance 1.5m (probably disqualified for nearfield)
My listening distance is about 1m, give it or take. These also will NOT be up against wall, more middle of the room. So, on the surface of it, it's down to A500 or 8C but I'm willing to rearrange a bit if there's a significant gain with RTM10 or Kii. Hence, why I'm going through subjective reviews of people who seem a bit more qualified (purite, erin, mitchco, etc) than myself or some YouTuber who's just spewing whatever they can think of to get you to smash that subscribe button.