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i am not so sure. if the stem on the smaller frame is not such that it makes the stem parallel with the ground then you have rise, and if you are in the same position, roughly the same frontal area.
you can also reduce stack i'd say by about 5-10mm via headset changes. i've had a shitty slamthatstem.com cover on mine for a while (i think the stock headset cover adds about 10mm) and have ordered cane creek's slamset which ought to work similarly.
zmjones_-
You only have rise if you've got quite a small frame, like my old TT bike, which again was adjusted to going from a 10mi/25mi TT setup to something I could race 24hrs on - with a massive riser stem.
The reasons I sized up on the old Kinesis was to increase the internal triangle for storage capacity and lengthen the frame to ride midfoot with less toe overlap. If I did the same with this warranty bike it'd be a foot taller because it's got a massive front end for tyre clearance. Then I'd definitely need a dropped stem.
hippy
It must make it more aero - you've got a frame that's, say, 700mm bottom to top versus one that's say 750mm bottom to top. With the taller one you then still have a stem on it but it's -17 or whatever to get rider back into position. The taller frame is always going to have a greater frontal area. I've never used a handlebar bag. I try and get most of my stuff on the frame or out the back rather than on the bars.