Standoffs suck. They are ugly and they make the knife harder to take apart. Once you get one screw out of the standoff, the screw on the other side better be loose or else you will be clamping it down so it doesn't spin when you try to loosen the second screw.
...but basically the standoffs are ugly and add more parts that can be lost on the knife. I guarantee Emerson did it for ease of manufacturing. ...cuz it definitely wasn't for style. Yes it makes the knifeeasier to clean...as in, it takes 3 seconds less time to clean out stuff that causes a problem. The standoffs also let more crap get stuck in the knife.
I just got my new cqc7a in the mail today and within two hours of getting home I crafted and installed a ghost jade g10 backspacer.