I've got two razors, one honed by SRD (Aust 5/8) and one honed by moi (McDonald 5/8). They'll both pass a HHT, although the Aust does better at it. Both shave me without irritation.

This morning I used the McDonald. It's louder. Kind of like using 100 grit sandpaper as opposed to 400. It "feels" coarser. But it shaves the hairs off. I thought, after feeling my cheeks, that it was stubblier after a few passes than with my DE. But when I fetched my DE to actually check, the end result felt the same. So it seems I was imagining a difference between straight and DE that wasn't there. I tried ATG on my cheekbones, with DE and with McDonald. If anything, the McDonald was smoother.

Yet I have the sense that the Aust is better than the McDonald. Maybe it just sounds different. Which is a long winded way of getting back to the question. How would you describe the differences between great and good? Is it tactile? You can actually feel a difference on the skin? Or is it just the feel of the shaving? Or the sound? Or ...?