I am also planning on making a bike with a direct drive hub motor as a mid-drive. Mainly to keep the noise level low while still having high power. At what RPM do you think the sound of the motor becomes audible over the sound of tires and wind noise? From a bystanders perspective I mean (I don't want people staring).
Depends on the size of the tire and the tread of the tire and to a certain degree the controller if its sine wave or not.
Direct drive hub motor as a mid drive would be ideal, compared to loud RC motors. Hub motors are big so you'd have to do a custom frame built around the dd hub mount. Then you'd have to look into the freewheel of the crank as you dont want the pedals to be fixed to the speed. People have done dd hub as mid drive, do a search on ES forum.