The only thing it has that is remotely better than the Empeg is the integrated amp, but who (that could afford this) would use that anyway?

To be fair, I have my empeg hooked up to my car's factory amp and speakers. If I had a "normal" car, I probably would have been happy enough using the cheapo built-in amp with whatever factory speakers. I'm far more interested in having thousands of tracks on tap than in having super-duper high quality sound in the car. That's what the enormous home stereo is for...