There are still bottlenecks in the architectures that impact performance negatively if audio is run through software. They may not be very visible but are there.
"They may not be very visible but are there." In your mind perhaps? Old single core performance issues from the 90's die hard methinks. Like people who think you get better audio CD burns if you use 1x burning speed instead of the 40x that the optical layer is specifically formulated for. Switching off Windows desktop animations and reinstalling Windows every 4 months. Ahhh those were the days.