On the other hand, I seem to recall EMS in virtual86 mode being critized because the virtual86 mode caused a lot of very slow traps for that emulation. Not sure

On the other hand, I seem to recall EMS in virtual86 mode being critized because the virtual86 mode caused a lot of very slow traps for that emulation. Not sure if true, but if the emulation was inefficient then I could see XMS being faster even if it means copying memory around.