Again, beating the dead-horse, but for pure bang-for-buck, the cheapest Shimano stuff that they'll still hang on an LBS bike (not a wallyworld bike) is the cheapest, even if some find it lacking in subjective factors that rule it out for some.

I don't think your question is quite approaching it the same way - sound s like you've got a subjective level of performance in mind (or else SRAM Red wouldn't even come up), and when you do that, you can't make a blanket statement as easily.

The Sora will get you there 99.9% as fast, and with 99% no hassle and last a really long time. Hard to beat that bang for buck criteria, even if you won't touch it with a stick because you hate the feel and ergonomics.