Make no mistakes the axefxIII is REALLY nice. It’s an amazing piece of guitar gear. For effects only, it serves its purpose just fine, too. Comparing those effects to even an H9 I’d say the eventide stuff is just more lush, more interesting and the fractal effects are more utility. I’d say really comes down to how much time you put in and how good you are with each unit. You can definitely get stellar sounds out of both. I much prefer Eventide’s crystals shimmer like effects. They’re just so lush, 3D and complex in comparison. Maybe it’s a horsepower issue? I know the fractal puts a lot of attention in its amp modeling so the effects need to be efficient while the H9 or any other eventide product has no concern. I really don’t know.