I am a service tech, I live in a logical world and look at everything based on what I see in back yards.
Nobody pays me to come to this forum, I didn't drink anyone's kool-aid.
I get feedback on customer satisfaction and have been getting it for several years.
There is no doubt that a circ pump is quieter, but only nominally so, depending on the cabinet design.
As for energy savings, that is debatable, depending on how many hours a day you run the two speed pump.
It takes X amount of energy to filter Y amount of water whether you take all day to do it, or just a couple hours.
The Laing circ. pump I'm looking at is .95 amp / 95 watts 115 volt and will turn over 1,787,040,000 times in a year.
A two speed jet pump, on low speed, uses 3 times the juice, but moves three times the water while turning half the speed, and can therefore be used only a 1/3 of the day (8 hours) and you actually get skimming action, turning over 302,220,000 times a year.
I'd love to see an actual independant analysis of the electrical use of spa pumps, not the tripe dealers try and feed us full of.