Not much difference at all in noise levels, that's detectable by the human ear anyway. I shoot alot of suppressed .22 Remington Subsonics, and they are still pretty damn loud w/o the suppressor.
Short fat heavy bullets don't tend to upset too badly when they drop to subsonic speeds, due to their point of balance being about center. You tend to notice destabilization in long pointed boat tails because more of their weight is centered closer to one end.
On the heavier/slower vs. Lighter faster, one can look at it this way. Heavier bullets tend to retain velocity better, lighter bullets lose velocity faster. Same principal that govens freight trains and passenger cars, heavier=more resistance to stop, Passenger car= less resistance to stop. O.K. that's a shitty analogy, but it's all I can come up with at 1:48 AM