Which spokes to get, Wheelsmith or DT Swiss Spokes? I'm building two sets of 26" wheels, one pair of 32h triple cross with Bullseye hubs with machined sidewalls for rim brakes, and another pair of 24h double cross with Alex A-Class hubs with Sun rims for disc brakes.

I'm now looking for which spokes to buy. I'm comparing double butted spokes between Wheelsmith and DT Swiss. The Wheelsmiths are slightly cheaper per spoke, but I'll end up paying the same because of the purchase quantities, so price isn't really a factor.

I'm looking specifically to compare the Wheelsmith Black DB14s 14/15/14 ga (2.0x1.7x2.0mm) vs DT Swiss Black Competitions (2.0x1.8x2.0mm), but if there are other opinions between the straight spokes (2.0mm) - Wheelsmith SS14 vs DT Swiss Champion, that would be also of interest.

Some issues I've heard before:


The DT Swiss butt transitions are nicer
The 1.8mm DT Swiss diameter makes the wheel feel more rigid (not always a good thing)
The 1.7mm Wheelsmith allow more elasticity and give a nicer ride
DT Swiss is more readily available (not a large concern of mine)
Wheelsmith spokes work better with Wheelsmith nipples


At this point, I'm still on the fence between the two. Wisdom, experience, or differences would tip the scales.
I don't know if this helps, but Peter White is a well-regarded framebuilder and wheelbuilder who has strong opinions on the Wheelsmith vs DT Swiss issue:


http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/spokes.asp
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/DTspokes.htm


The gist of his argument boils down to two (current) main differences:

1) DT Spokes have a 6.3mm elbow length vs Wheelsmith 6.1mm (assumed) which can accommodate larger flanges, but are undesirable.

2) DT Spokes have a sharper, 'triangular' transition into the head, which has led to more cases of the DT Spokes popping heads off than Wheelsmith, which have rounded transitions.

In addition, there WERE a large number of issues with DT Spokes relating to their specification change in 2001 from 6.1mm to 6.8mm, causing problems with slop in the hub and sharper elbow angles making the lacing more difficult. These have since been remedied and the elbows are now down to 6.3mm, but not back to the original spec and WS hasn't changed their specs around (perhaps this is circumstantial evidence, but it makes WS seem a more steady design than DT).