My two preferred cubes are the Tengyun and my modded Valk M (4×1.5 N38, foam-modded corners, Valk Elite's green springs), which incidentally are also the least noisy cubes I have. For that matter, among the ten speedcubes I have, this is my subjective noisiness ranking when turning slowly (least to most):
Tengyun M, Valk M, 50 mm Zhanchi, Guhong v3 M, Valk Elite M, Cubing Classroom 45 mm, Weilong GTS2M, Huanglong M, Aolong v2, Yulong v1
And when testing corner cutting:
Valk M, Tengyun, CC 45 mm, Valk Elite, Huanglong M, 50 mm Zhanchi, GTS2M, Guhong v3, Yulong, Aolong v2
Just about every cube I have other than the Valk M, the Tengyun and the CC 45 mm gets much louder when doing corner cutting; it's clear that turning style plays a big part in how loud the cube will sound. I'm slightly curious about how the Gan cubes would rank, since they're often said to be quiet (people said this of
every release in the Gan 356 line, from the original 356 to the XS), but also not curious enough to stop boycotting them.
(I don't take noisiness as the key factor to choosing a main; that's obviously silly. That my two mains are relatively quiet is coincidence. Noisiness would, however, be a key factor in choosing what cube to take for EDC.)
I like the Valk Elite better. While I only have a Valk Elite, my neighbor has a Valk M.
If you can control a cube better, the Valk Elite is better.
I dislike the Huanglong M, but at least the design isn't outright broken and it makes sense that other people might like it. Not so with the Valk Elite; at least the stickerless version is just fundamentally flawed. (I haven't tried the stickered version but I'm also not about to drop another 50 quid on
yet another 3×3×3 that I will inevitably have to replace the stickers for in a few days.)
The huanglong is awesome (Correctly set-up):
1. smooth
2. fast yet controllable
3. perfect magnet strength that just does the job and nothing else
4. The best stickerless shades probably of all time
5. Quiet
6. Amazing M Slices
Mostly agree on #4; the fluoro red looks great on the cube, but many other stickerless cubes have darker/deeper reds (especially big cubes), so I need to "recalibrate" my vision when switching between cubes. Hard disagree on #5; a broken-in Huanglong really isn't what I'd consider quiet. (No opinion on the rest.)
