Yeah, the “same-as-the-M2-waveguide” PR is misleading. But I never believed for a second that they’d be able to put the real thing on a $150 speaker. For starters, even if it has a similar shape, the reduction in size alone would radically alter its behavior.
I’m not particularly fond of your monitors (4430 and NS10) and would not like mixing on those, but if your room has been tuned to them and you know them well, the LSR305’s are obviously not gonna match up.
What I find inexcusable is that the XLR did not work.
That said, I think it is unbelievable what quality you can buy these days for a mere $300 per pair. Are they as good as $3000 Genelecs? No. But you do get something that is good enough to get you started, and if you take the time to learn them, reasonably balanced mixes can be obtained from them.
edit:
I just realized you talk about the 8" model. My bad. In my experience, all budget 8" speakers are disproportionally bass-heavy and you’d be better off with the 5" models.