I can't really help with aerodynamic comparisons, but I've got the ARC 1100s (disc brake) and Hed Stingers (similar to the Jets, but tubular). Overall, I think they are both good wheels. My Hed Stinger 9 front is from 2009 and I've only had to replace the bearings (easy and cheap). The wheels have been amazing and never really needed truing. My ARCs have DT Swiss 240 hubs. As a wheelbuilder, I'm impressed with the build quality. Both my ARCs are 62 and have not really proven problematic in high crosswinds (20+ MPH). I only run the ARCs with tubes, but it seems like tubeless setup should be pretty easy. Good luck!

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

Hard call. They're both likely at the pointy end of the aero spectrum. Between these two, I would probably go for Jet because of the brake track. You can save a few seconds at each corner by braking later/harder with aluminum rims. Also, one "oh sh!t" braking moment on the ARCs would have you wishing you had the Jets. The fact that a rear 9 looks better than an 8 and HEDs are made in the US are icing on the cake. Buuuut there's something nice about solid carbon and those special DT240 hubs so you win either way...

I know you said to "leave price out of consideration," but it's worth noting that the DT ARC 1100, DT ARC 1400, Swiss Side Hadron Ultimate, and Swiss Side Hadron Classic all use the same rim. The differences are limited to hubs, spokes, and price. Looking at the specs, I can't see any reason the ARC 1100s should cost a penny more than the Hadron Ultimates, much less 80% more (~$3150 vs ~$1750).

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

How do the 240 hubs and DT aerolite® straightpull spokes from DT Swiss compare to the HEDs? I've had HED wheels before, but never a wheel with DT Swiss hubs/spokes. I'm getting the sense that the differences are marginal

HED Jet wheels. No brainer. HED wheels have placed in the top 3 of about every wind tunnel test I have seen. The other two vary, but HED is always on the podium if not the winner. Given that, they are likely the fastest wheels you can buy without doing your own wind tunnel testing.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ X 1000

The only other wheels I would consider would be the Aerocoach wheels. There is no #3 wheel in my book

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Brian Stover USAT LII
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Braking on the DT Swiss wheels is really bad.

Jet + Black. The SC brakes aren’t the greatest but the black rim will help with the braking performance, especially in wet conditions.

As was mentioned, there aren’t many wheels that are likely faster than the Jets, they tend to be very tire agnostic, and they work great when set up tubeless.

I don’t understand why you aren’t a tubeless fan. Tubeless tend to seal flats better than a latex tube with sealant. I run Corsa Speeds on my Jet 9. These are very tight tires and it is easy to damage a latex tube during installation.

Just not there on road...yet. I run tubeless for mtb, cx, and gravel and have had great success. Was running tubeless on some 32c Roubaix for some easy dirt/road rides and had one roll on me while cornering.

I rode thousands of gravel/road/dirt miles on tubeless 32c Roubaix last year and only encountered two flats that were sealed with plugs and sealant. The thought of rolling one never occurred to me. Do you know what the root of your failure was? The tubeless 32c Roubaixs have become my favorite training tires for my Diverge.

I've had a couple of different set of HED Jets (5 Express previously and currently running 9+/Disc+ rear regular brake track). I also have a custom wheelset for my road bike built on HED C2 rims with DT240s hubs (32 spoke each). While I can' speak for the DT Aerolite spokes both hubs are nice. I'd personally give the edge to the DT240s though because I prefer a quiet coasting hub (HEDs give that angry bees noise coasting, even more so with the Disc amplifying it further) and replacement hubs/parts are easier to find since DT Swiss hubs are sold as a stand alone product (at least in the US they are unlike HED hubs). They both spin real nice but maybe the DT240s I have are marginally heavier than the HED ones I have. But you can get a steel freehub body for the DT Swiss which will practically last forever unlike the less robust aluminum ones on the HED hubs (which are more easily prone to the bite marks you see on freehub bodies with an decent amount of miles on them).

DT Swiss make nice wheel parts so I wouldn't be worried about their spoke quality and feel they would be on par with the Sapim CX-Ray that HED uses on their wheels..

Never did. I’ve only used those rims with my CX/gravel tires since and have never had a problem with those. Just makes me pinch up my keister thinking of cornering hard and having a tire roll on me after a couple of experiences of that happening in crits. I’m sure I’ll get over it along with my irrational fear of heights though!

Well, As someone said why do you ever need disc brakes when you have hed het black rims :)
Breaking is really impressive, fast. I run them with 23 corsa, latex tubes.

I have never ridden black rims but a lot of Hed wheels and have no idea why anyone would feel the need to buy the Black in regards to braking. I personally would buy them because with the black rim the wheel looks slightly cooler. In wet conditions you can't brake as hard on a wet road and a standard aluminium rim will still send your tyre sliding out should you grab the brakes hard enough.

I personally don't ride carbon clinchers on my road bike as I prefer the aluminium rim braking so much more but I certainly don't think any improvement is required over a standard aluminium rim. Maybe there could be some advantage braking at speed descending having more modulation and but I can't see any advantage beyond that.

I have a set of the hed black 60/90 running GP5000 tubeless. They are fast and brake well. I also have a set of DT swiss ARC 1100 80mm setup with GP5000 tubeless. Tubeless is fast, and easy to setup. In kona, I have ridden the hed jet, non black in disc brake version set up with vitorria corsa: disc brakes were overkill in kona as i think i used the brakes only a few times during the course. I did not use the DT swiss on the front in 2019 kona, but changed last minute and used the Hed jet black 60, as the winds worried me. They are both super fast wheels, and both will set up tubeless. That being said, the hed at the rim is much wider than the DT Swiss, and i had to modify my brake settings to accommodate the HED. You can't go wrong with either, but I will say the DT swiss is quieter and has a full ceramic setup. The HED brakes better.

Black rims brake the about the same in wet as they do dry. They are magic. In dry, they are pretty much the same as any normal aluminum rim.

I have not found this to be the case - at least on the current (2019) pair of Arc 1100 wheels that I'm testing. I used the Swiss Stop carbon pads that they provided, with Dura Ace calipers and TT levers - very smooth, quiet, and even braking. I haven't used every carbon rim out there, but I've used a lot - and DT Swiss is easily in the top three or four.

And of course, with so many bikes using disc brakes these days, braking no longer has much to do with the wheel, but rather the brake setup - rotor type/size, pad material, caliper type, frame/fork stiffness, brake setup, etc.