Yes, there is a difference, both in ease of use, and longevity of the edge. This from decades of experience, and not guessed theory. The first of those decades the super sharp edge was from the difference between a Translucent after the Hard, and later the 13k beyond the 8k.
It's little effort for me though, these days. All the waterstones are in a rack on the sharpening sink, so the extra effort requires replacing the last stone with the next in the holder, and a few extra strokes, so 15 to 20 seconds max extra effort.
If I'm in the middle of a long planing session, the edge gets sharpened first thing in the morning, and after lunch, starting at 6k. The majority of the square footage planed on my jobs is either Cypress, or Heart Pine, and almost all cutters are 01. A lot of hours of work is done by hand pushing a chisel too.