If the path to the dir is longer than $HOME, say, $HOME/Tools/modding/hd2-audio-modder/wwise/v123456789_idr_but_its_a_long_one/random file name with spaces, it makes more sense.

I’ll try using the braces syntax, if it does prevent word splitting I wasn’t aware of it, though it’s still slightly inconvenient (3 key inputs for each brace on my kb) and I’d probably still use quotes instead if I had to use Bash and had the file path in a variable for some reason.

… though at this point I’m probably overthinking it, atm I don’t recall better examples of my distaste for Bash expansion shenanigans.

---

Did some testing, here’s what I found.
Beware, it devolves into a rant against Bash and has little to do with the original topic - I just needed to scream into the void a little.

# Zsh
function argn { echo $#; }

var='spaced string'
argn $var
# Prints 1: makes sense, no word splitting here

var=(array 'of strings')
argn $var
# Prints 2: makes sense, I'm using a 2-wide array where I would
#           want 2 arguments (the second one happens to have
#           a whitespace in it)

# Bash
function argn { echo $#; }

var='spaced string'
argn $var
# Prints 2: non-array variable gets split in 2 with this simple reference;
#           I hate it, but hey, it is what it is

argn ${var}
# Prints 2: no, braces do not prevent word splitting as I think you suggested

var=(array 'of strings')
argn $var
# Prints 1: ... what?

echo $var
# Prints array: ... what?!?
#               It implicitly takes the first element?
#               At least it doesn't word-split said first element, right?

var=('array of' strings)
argn $var
# Prints 2:

---

Upon further investigation:

# Bash
mkdir /tmp/bashtest ; cd /tmp/bashtest
touch 'file 1'
touch 'file 2'

stat file*
# Prints the expected output of 'stat' called on both files;
# no quotes or anything, globbing just expands into
# 2 arguments without *word* splitting

files=('file 1' 'file 2')
stat $files
# stat: cannot statx 'file'
# stat: cannot statx '1'
# WHY? WHY DOES GLOBBING ACT SENSIBLY WHEN ARRAYS DO NOT?

I get that the Bash equivalent to Zsh’s $array is ${array[@]}, but making $array behave like it does in Bash has no advantage whatsoever.
… IS WHAT I WOULD SAY IF THAT WERE TRUE! YOU ALSO HAVE TO QUOTE "${array[@]}" BECAUSE WE LOVE QUOTES HERE AT BASH HQ!

# ... continued from before
stat "prefix ${files[@]}"
# stat: cannot statx 'prefix file 1'
# (regular 'stat' output for 'file 2')

While this behavior doesn’t make much sense to me, it also doesn’t make sense for me to write that “prefix” within the quotes in the first place, right?
YES. BECAUSE SPLITTING IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU PUT STUFF IN QUOTES.

Sorry, I’ll stop.