[SafeandSound]

I have been using both of these compressors emulated in Liquid Mix and prefer the sound of the Smart Research emulation, I appreciate you are an analogue guy though.

They are both fantastic sounding compressors IMO, at least with the emulations it seems the track I tested it on retained it's essential character
but was put under nice control by the C2 emulation adding some thickness
and both the bass and highs were more natural sounding and were effected less than with the API emulation which thinned the sound slightly.

I simply A/B'd them with the same music on 2 seperate tracks in Nuendo4.

I think the API is a little more agressive, a little less transparent, you mention "grabby" and I guess this means following the music in a timely manner when clamping down.