I would lean toward Sofirn over Astrolux for reliability. That said, the Astrolux has a dirt-simple driver by comparison.
That said, they’re very different lights. The EC01 is a compact XHP50.2 light, but I’d wager it’s a lot more useful outdoors than the IF25, which is a quad-led TIR flooder.
Sofirn is a step up from Astrolux IMO. Astrolux tries to take a popular light idea and make it as cheap as possible - in some cases very directly ripping off other lights, and in other cases just following trends the same way as other manufacturers. Their quality has never impressed me, and it seems like little issues plague their products which should otherwise be quite good offerings. Maybe you do get what you pay for.
Sofirn has made an effort to work directly with the flashlight community to develop better lights. They still have offerings more suited for the general public, but they generally try to get things right. Some of their lights have been fantastic hits, while others seem to be slight misses - but this is generally not due to quality shortcomings, but design decisions or oversights.
Personal experience? My MF02 is frustrating. It was at the time by far the best $/m of throw that went beyond jacket-pocket sized lights (C8, Z1/cometa, etc.). But it has such horrific standby drain that I can’t leave it sitting without physically locking it out - and that’s on a four-cell light! Most of their popular products have threads started for (or transformed into) discussing the common issues. And there’s always an example of a light which executed the same/similar idea better (maybe the price points didn’t match, but there we are again).
I’ll be honest: It’s hard for me to imagine they messed up the EC01 very much. It’s just too simple of a light. But it is cool white (because 3V XHP50 only comes in CW), and that’s an entirely different ballgame than the tint-mixing IF25. Heck, I’d put it up against a D4v2 or something first…
And if you want my real answer, I’d say to grab a Noctigon KR4 instead of either. But that’s just me