More assumptions. You have absolutely no idea the condition of the original rendered image from the raw. Please, let the OP fully explain his workflow and let's advise him based on what he has and where he used it not just about the resampling that's a tiny part of an entire process.
Well first of all I repeat that I agree with somebody here that the picture was not a great example. Again sorry about that
It is a picture 7360x4912 taken at ISO 3200 1/200 sec f/1.4 w/50mm NO STABILIZATION
The focus distance - to the point of the nose - was 0.71m.
That gives a DOF of 1.6 cm which could explain why the whiskers (and the rest) are soft (DOF 0.700 m - 0.716m)
My workflow:
Import the file to LR. In this case there were no adjustments, especially NO SHARPENING.
Export as TIF to PS
Resize to 800x534
Convert to 8 bits
Convert from ProPhoto to sRGB
Duplicate 2x (and save as three .jpg's:
original - NIK - Photokit)
NO Capture Sharpening (wanted just a test on the behaviour when Output-Sharpening)
Sharpened with default values one w/ NIK Output Sharpener the other with PK (Superfine Edge Sharpen is the default)
That was it.
I opened all three, set the displays to 1:1 and arranged them vertically for examination.
I liked the unsharpened most, second came the PK and IMO Nik was the "most crunchy" of all.
I stress that I have no practical problems with that, since both versions let adjust themselves via layers
But I wanted to understand what happens and why and any possible drawbacks I am not aware of
Hope I didn't forget anything
Thanks for your patience