I had a thread not too long ago about poor braking with my old old shimano 600 brake calipers. It was a single pivot system. I started a thread because I bumped into a back of a car on one occasion and another time I nearly crashed into a side of a pickup as it was turning into a driveway. I could have avoided hitting both of them had my brakes were better. I had replaced the 20 year old pads with new DA/Ultegra brake pads but they couldn't grip enough with the single pivot caliper.

I did replace it with dual pivot SRAM force brake about a week ago. Oh boy!! Huge difference. The dual pivot system wasn't grabby but strong enough that I could lock up my wheels. I feel lot safer

And yes the cable housing makes a difference. I also use stainless steel cable. I only use DA cable housing not some cheap stuff. You get what you pay paid for. DA housing doesn't compress under load and internally they have thick high quality teflon sleeve to allow the cable to slide smoothly inside. You don't need to oil the stainless steel cable when you use with DA housing. If anything, don't lube the cable because it just makes it gummy.

My road bike use all SRAM Force. My TT bike uses all SRAM Force except the brake lever. There, I use Carbon Tektro brake lever (so cheap '$' I couldn't pass it up ). caliper is SRAM Force.

You can mix brake lever and brake caliper. There are all compatible because there is no indexing...

I'm sure the dual pivot 105 is good enough. You may want to have it properly adjusted, new brake pads... Have your LBS go over it.

oh my experience are shimano 600, 105, ultegra, DA, SRAM Force, Campy Centaur. 600 is vintage at the time it was good now it falls short compared to up to date component. 105 was pretty good for serious recreational rider. Same with Centaur. ultegra is really nice. DA if you got $$ and SRAM Force is good but I think you can do better with Ultegra money wise.

smilingcat