I think the proof is in the pudding, if you are getting nice tight round stars then it's safe to say that PA and guiding are working well.
I am very happy with my ASIAir plus, the point being that it works for me and does what I want.
I 100% agree with you that it would be nice to compare the methods, but as an intellectual exercise only, as if one method works well then take that dust cap off and start collecting photons
