I know how you use the EPSI, just exagerrated a bit with "half the way"
Well, there's definitely gonna be no fanboy-polemic for either one side or the other from me.
What works for me / sounds good to me doesn't necessarily have to sound *good* to others.
I prefer the Boogie Mk typo gain texture/tone over anything else which resulted in building the Triaxis/2:90 rig and not an MP-1/Marshall rig.
But then, the Triaxis was the first trade-off in my sound pursuit as it's just a close proximity to my holy-grail IIC+ DRGX and MkIV Ch3.
If I'm happy and convinced with the result I personally don't care that much how I got there.
So the whole package does the trick for me. It sounds and feels as close to the real deal as I can judge myself (subjective, individual), is convenient, easy to set up, easy to lig around and (very important) consistent.
If I can achieve all that I couldn't care less on wether that's done with 1s and 0s, Tiger-Shark DSP chips, analog ICs, tubes or whatever.
Sound quality, tonal comfort zone and convenience. That about sums it up.
Almost forgot: the possibility to shape/alter any given amp model to my likings! Lets say I totally dig the Engl Savage overall, but to my personal taste I'd rather rather have it with 6L6 instead of the 6550 and bias them really hot for more sweetness, also reduce some poweramp negative feedback and give it more SAG for some more fluty spongyness....endless possibilities to fine-tune something that is otherwise in the real world limited by its given hardware and physics/electronic bounds....
But then you see, it took me almost half a year to get aquainted to all controls and parameters and to at least scratch the surface of all possibilities (ok, I didn't dive in there 24/7 as real life and family dictates some different priorities).
AND, after I finished the final book of "A Song Of Ice and Fire" I RTFM and the AxeFX Wiki
If I manage to find some time in between preparations for our move to Japan I'll try and post some clips...
In the meantime you can check out the real awesome thrashy Act of Defiance "Birth and the Burial". Chris Broderick tracked exclusively with the Axe II