Multiple, lower fidelity design iterations resulted in higher product quality than a higher fidelity design process with no iteration:
Dow, S. P., Heddleston, K., & Klemmer, S. R. (2009, October). The efficacy of prototyping under time constraints. In Proceedings of the seventh ACM conference on Creativity and cognition (pp. 165-174). ACM.
Prototype fidelity has complex effects on evaluation. With high fidelity prototypes, task time was overestimated, while with low fidelity prototypes, aesthetic quality was overestimated.
Sauer, J., & Sonderegger, A. (2009). The influence of prototype fidelity and aesthetics of design in usability tests: Effects on user behaviour, subjective evaluation and emotion. Applied ergonomics, 40(4), 670-677.