I don't have time to deep dive this now but I'll leave this here & circle back later. IMO the DR RI is the best Recto ever made, with a couple honoroble mentions like the Rev C and Triple F.
Fwiw I have never played through either, but everything I've read from owners about the new RI's being slightly tighter, and more present/articulate in the mids is very much inline with what people said about the rack mount versus regular head version version of '90s Dual Recs. There were many pages on HCAF and other forums dedicated to the Rackmount being the best version of the OG Dual Recs for metal because of those differences.
As much as I loved my '96 I always wanted to compare it to the earlier ones with the Mark III transformer set. The consensus was the earliest ones had a greater dynamic range, and a good deal less sag and compression.