There is no doubt that when I put the smaller K&Ns out in the cooler air (by cutting the bear claw) the bike ran better than when they were under it. I guess making sure the air temp sensor is accurately measuring the temp of the air entering the filter is also critical.
When I stuck my intake right out to the side and drawing completely cool air I noticed another boost in performance. On that basis I'd say the the biggest advantage of the bigger filters is that they are drawing more air from further away from the engine than the smaller K&Ns. The extra volume capacity would only make a difference if the smaller filters where choking flow significantly, which I doubt is the case on an otherwise stock engine.
Fortunately (for me) noise has never been a factor as I either didn't notice or didn't care about any increase there.