Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 44,135
Likes: 6,353
From: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
I suspect "quality" of tubes refers to how well they braze or weld together, not now they ride. Better tubes will make a better frame, but maybe not for the reasons we think of.
If all we wanted were a stiff frame, we would prefer heavy "gas pipe" frames.