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"Fast" wheels are those the spin up to speed quickly. It's a function of their polar moment of inertia. Which means where the weight on the wheel is located acts like a lever arm. The farther away from the hub the weight is located, the more energy is required to bring a wheel up to speed. Once at speed, things don't matter as much.
Therefore, light rims, tires, and tubes matter more than lightweight hubs.
Stiffness-obviously you don't want a wheel to flex when leaning into a curve. Think more in terms of strength rather than flex. A spoked wheel is very strong in resisting pedaling forces, called torque. Think about reefing on a socket wrench. The longer the handle, the more torque is applied. But leaning into a curve the rim can flex laterally. This is affected by the tension on the spokes, as well as the width of the hub flanges, which you can't do anything about. Bladed spokes, being thinner in the left to right direction, can flex more when a bike is leaned. Round spokes offer the best compromise in lateral resistance to flex and strength against pedaling forces.
You don't build flex into the wheels, or build them to provide a comfortable ride except for tire and air pressure choices. Any differences in feel between two different height rim walls would be the way they transmit vibration.
There's definitely more to wheels than aerodynamics and I feel aero is over-rated.
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