RE: brace height, riser or ATA
My thoughts on brace height... It's not so much the higher brace height as it is in how that brace height is achieved. If brace height is increased by changing the riser design from reflexed (the deepest part of the grip is behind the limb butts)to straight (deepest part of the grip directly under the limb butts) the straight riser will be more forgiving. If they go beyond straight and into a deflex pattern, with the deepest part of the grip in front of the limb butts, that's the most forgiving riser design.
When your grip is in front of the limb butts so when you pull the string, everything is being pulled in the same line. It's extremely hard to torque a deflex riserbow because your hand has very little mechanical advantage. With the grip behind the limb butts, you're pulling the string in one direction and trying your best to push the limb butts forward in the same line. With the grip in between the string and limb butts, your hand has a lot of mechanical advantage and makes torquing the bow very easy. Your shooting form is much more critical with the reflex riser. The straight riser is a compromise between the two.
Now they are making nearly all reflexed risers but increasing brace heights by making the limbs come off the riser at a flat angle. Increasing brace height by doing that doeshardly anythingto make a bow more forgiving, IMO, except to give you more bow arm clearance.
Decreasing the limb angle also decreases the ATA so, that only leaves riser length. But then, parallel limbs with a long riser also gives you a longer ATA than you'd have with a short riser.
I'm confusing myself.[8D]