Can’t help much with the comparison, but never pass up the opportunity to say how much I love my evo 2.
I went from an alu hardtail to the evo 2 and I have definitely noticed the extra ‘steel-feel’. As the original evo was reknowned for being quite rigid, this might suggest that there is a noticeable difference between the evo and evo2?
In terms of stability and sheer descending confidence, the evo 2 is a mile away from my old bike. It also climbs well due to the long top tube. Really tight twisty stuff is where it might be viewed as more difficult to handle, but a bit of over-exaggerated turning out then in is a fair trade-off for the extra attitude. You knew all this anyway, though!
It’s a nice dilemma to be having whatever.