From what I've seen. If you are going to do autos do AKs there is one breeder that is the best, but I don't really remember who right now... I had like 20 different autos I grew, and all of them sucked yield wise, and weren't the best smoke. That doesn't mean there are some that are good though. If I did it again it would be AKs...
As far as hydro vs soil, IDK probably not much difference.