But pocketcasts is already free, open source and multi platform right?

Exactly the same as a normal one. It just works and you don’t really need to do anything with it. Everything seems the same just no little card in the side of your device.

I don’t understand how the 7a beats the more modern 8/8 Pro. Surely the newer models have the same or improved hardware and software? I guess maybe the newer sensors haven’t been tweaked as well yet?

Unless you drink a lot of Guinness 😂