They’re both good DEs with their pros and cons. I’m glad you found something you’re happy with! For me that’s Gnome but I’ve used Plasma 5 quite a bit two and it’s a close second for me. I don’t think there’s much use in bickering over which is “better”.

Home manager is great

Actually good and not pain in the ass to set up FOSS STT? 👀

Wayland if possible because it generally performes better and is actively maintained. Xorg if Wayland doesn’t support your system yet.