I believe everyone of us has his own standards of honing and a personal idea about sharpness of a razor, all to be compared with one's own whiskers and shaving technique. Not to mention stropping.
Having said this, an edge honed with, say, a 3k will be coarser than a 12k, the latter also giving a thinner edge, therefore, more delicate and fragile, something which can also be easily seen through a microscope. The two blades will of course give different sensations on the skin, also this being a matter of personal judgment.
Everyone here knows a whisker is as hard as a copper wire to cut, offering a quite strong resistance to the razor's edge, which unavoidably will start to get blunt because of the "mechanical" action. The more delicate the edge, the quicker it will get blunt. Of course, the quality and type of steel play a fundamental role in this.
Now, I understand I may not be that good in honing, but in my own experience/beard/shaving/stropping, the very same razor honed with the Chinese "so called 12k" needs to be refreshed in chromium oxide more often than when I use a Naniwa 8k without finishing it on a 12k. Like I said, I understand I may not be that good in honing/stropping and all the rest, but this is what I can tell according to my own experience.
Having said this, this discussion is very interesting!