So am I right that:
A low grit finish will still cut properly (not tear) but the cut it's self will be less "clean" and fine/smooth.
A low grit (particularly for supersteels with carbides) will cut longer due to the carbides sticking out more.
A higher grit will cut more smooth, fine cuts and cause less "trauma" to the surrounding material on a microscopic level while cutting.
A higher grit will cut on a mere push where low grit might not.
One analogy I just thought of is my Gerber multitool has a tungsten carbide jigsaw blade on it. Thick chunky bits of carbide all over it, visibly large. I can run it across my hand and it does not cut me at all, yet when I run it against hardened steel padlock shackles it will ultimately cut through them in 5 minutes of sawing/cutting. Does this mean a lower grit knife finish is worse on softer materials and a higher grit would work much better on soft materials?
All depends,
there is no universal "best" edge finish.
To say polished is better then toothy and vice versa is a complete misunderstanding of how to use edge finishes.
Shaving your face with a razor is at one end of the the spectrum and NEEDS polish so the blade can slide over your skin without irritation and cleanly "cleve" off the hair without any drawing of the edge. Just a straight push with minimal force and a clean cut.
At the complete other end of the spectrum is draw cutting thick natural and synthetic rope, you don't want polish, it slips on the rope, you want teeth on the edge that "catch" the fibers and shred them apart with the lightest draw of the edge across the rope.
In reality, we aren't shaving our faces with our pocket knives nor is the AVERAGE person cutting insane amounts of rope everyday.
So we play with different combinations of "polished toothy" edges.
An edge that still has teeth that aren't completely smoothed out and has some "bite" and endurance yet still has the push cutting, the finesse and precision of a polished edge.
It is a compromise of the two spectrums.
Like Jason said play with the 300-1500grit range. Also, you'll get different effects from different stones in the same grit due to bonding vs coated abrasive so play with that.
Lastly, you can add diamond and CBN stropping to really fine tune the finish you like.