as the title asks, is there any benefit on the machine side, or just in general when exporting a file with a newer software version?
The machine file formats of SVD/SVL or DSZ have not changed at all - the changes that have happened are mostly to.do with the coordinate system or geoid model handling over the years that I gave been involved. The surface is a TIN model, the linework is 2D and the alignments are a very dense chorded approximation of an alignment - they have not changed nor have the avoidance zones etc.
A DSZ is a zipped version of the SVD /SVL file
More recently with the push to VCL formats Nd Works Manager / Works OS the VCL is delivered to Works Manager and it does the conversion to the machine files needed for different ages of software - but the base surface, lines and alignment have not changed.
The Coordinate systembis where all the changes have happened and those were largely changed when they moved the handling of Geoid models from the receiver into the control box - this made it possible to load larger Geoids into the system than previously possible. The site cal and coord system part hasn’t changed much really over the years other than support for more coord systems around the world and more variants on how they are defined.
Alan