I've been sitting in my basement trying to replicate as good as possible what a direct hose would feel like and noticed the same. The hose needs to be long enough to allow me to turn my head to the right but when then looking straight, or worse; turning to the left, that extra hose is really doing a number on my jaw. I have a 120 degree elbow only. So maybe with a swivel it would be less pronounced but I don't want a swivel.Putting the hose around your neck reduces jaw fatigue when your using it and improves streamlining when you not using it. I'm not sure why you wouldn't go this route.
I've waisted a lot of time trying to engineer a better system just to land in doing it the way most of the world does it anyway.
I think I am going back to the loop around the neck... Ordered the 3 dollars piece to change my second stage from left to right.