I had a chair with locked recline, it was really comfortable. but you need to pair it with a leg rest as well otherwise your legs are floating and that would cut off blood flow to your thigh and legs, not very healthy and comfortable.

I am using HM Aeron myself, to play games and watch movies these days. It's not so bad imho. I have no complaints and it's very comfortable. I would much prefer a locked recline with leg rests myself, but that would make the chair super bulky and heavy. Even with good chair, it's still advisable to stand up and move around often.

I don't sit at weird position. I  sit normally and just lie down a bit, since its recline system works kinda like a rocking chair.

I don't know about the quality of China made products for HM Aeron. But this has been such an old discrimination because china's manufacturing also has different tiers. And each brand has their own quality controls regardless of where they are manufactured. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. HM Aeron wouldn't pick China's manufacturers if it's going to compromise their quality significantly in the first place since they have a reputation to keep.

Also, if you want to compare with a HM Aeron that is manufactured like 10 years ago? Of course you cannot compare. These days things aren't made to last.

i dont have an aeron but i tested it for quite a while, personally i prefer contessa's multi-density foam seat as it's more friendly on the area behind the knee if you wear shorts, aeron's seat pan does not encourage you to sit cross-legged/kangkang as it is more sculpted
i also prefer the straight lumbar support on the remastered aeron
the only downside of foam seat is it gets pretty warm if you dont turn on your aircond on a hot day. cant vouch for contessa's longetivity, dont have enough data and sample size, but TBH i dont think it'll last any shorter than other chairs unless you relocate the chair alot

also one area aeron does better is in the spare parts should you need to replace something, you can find heaps of replacement parts on ebay and amazon (usually seat pan/armpads from what i noticed)

side note: if you're considering aeron, do give mirra2 a try, the butterfly back feels pretty awesome when you lean back, it flexes to allows some form of micromovement on your shoulder from what i remember