100% Wheat compared to 100% Barley

So being new to homebrew and wanting to learn the right way, my brewing group has made a few batches with 100% of certain malts to find the exact profiles they have. One of the things which has surprised us was the huge difference in wheat compared to barley.

The barley beers have all tasted great after fermention (pre-bottle).
The wheat beers have tasted not so great at the same point, with a very strong and bitter alcohol flavor.

We then cracked open some wheats we all like from my fridge, and poured them out, shook the glass several times to remove the CO2 and let them get warm.

We got the same harsh bitter alcohol flavor.

Conclusion: Wheat beers need alot of C02 to soften the flavor profile.

Are we on track with this? Thoughts?

(P.S. We are aware that the vast majority of wheats use about half barley in the recipe)

Its been my experience that CO2 sharpens the flavor and helps cut sweetness. The reasoning behind this thought is that dissolving CO2 into a liquid creates a form of carbonic acid. Acid gives a tart or sour flavor(kicks it up a notch). So I would never say that carbonation softens the taste. It might very well mask the hot alcohol flavor that you are describing. I have never conducted that experiment as you did. Instead I have tasted my beer before carbonation and thought this is too sweet. After carbonation I found it to be less sweet and just right. Perhaps better tasters will chime in.

Instead I have tasted my beer before carbonation and thought this is too sweet.

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I'm still a noob but thought I'd chime in. I've found the exact same thing. Tried a Stout, a Red, and a Wheat out of primary and they all tasted sweet and kind of disgusting.

The Stout is the only one now properly carbed (and being drunk as I type) but now that it is - it's pretty darn good. (has a hint of ethanol from screwing up and fermenting hot on my first batch)

As a note, the wheat I made was 5 lbs wheat dme, .5 ounce perle, s-05 as per a simple american wheat recipe someone gave in a thread (and the numbers are all pretty close in Beersmith too).