I've played with almost every type listed, and can't tell a difference--but apparently most other people can't, either:
John McChesney
Newsgroups: rec.sport.billiard
From: "John McChesney" <j...@texasexpress.com>
Date: 1999/06/14
Subject: Re: Metal joint VS wood to wood joint?
Here's something interesting we tried in 1991:
At an event we had 16 cues with the butt, joint and the ferrules covered with masking tape...then numbered. No one could "see" if the cue was a steel, plastic or wood joint (as in a Pete), nor detect by the style of ferrule. We had 70 players...each hit balls with the cues throughout the weekend.
The results:
Of nearly 800 attempts over the time period, the players guessed wrong
about what type joint was in the cue more than 7 out of 10 times.
From:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.billiard/msg/3a4dbd5e53265c42