Hm,
The Irradiance Volume is to calculate indirect light (bounce light), if i’m not mistaken. Used for indoor Renders. The Industrail Environment with Eevee, for instance, uses it.
I don’t know why you would want to get rid of the shadows, but you can disable Shadows (per Light) in the Light Properties.
I find the bottom picture a lot worse-looking than the top one. The grip especially appears to reflect too much light, it looks very flat and almost emissive.
But, as always; if you get the result you’re after, ‘everything is allowed’.
