"Better" depends on your weight, your size, your strength, and how you ride your bike. Reynolds 531, at one time, came in about eight "official" types, and a couple of "off the books" types used for one day record attempts, with the idea they would be ridden just ONE day.
So, a frame builder could select Reynolds tubes for a tandem bike, for a heavy touring bike, a light touring bike, a bike intended for a twenty day stage race, or a bike intended for a 20 minute track race.
Builders could "mix and match" the tubes to suit their own design goals. In the 1970's the Schwinn Paramount used a heavier tube for the top tube than did most comparable bikes. Schwinn thought it reduced some of the "twisting" at the bottom bracket that extremely strong riders can create on a light frame. No other builders shared that thought.
The "big" steel tube companies, such as Reynolds, Columbus, and Tange always gave builders a lot of good choices in tubing. How well a bike turned out depended on the choices the builder made, and how well the builder executed those choices.
Rivendell currently will mix steel tubes from two or three companies on the same bike. They look at the weight and size of the rider, how he or she will use the bike, and then pick the combination of tubes that they think will best meet that individual rider's goals. That kind of "custom" tuning of a bike's feel is one of the advantages of steel, but is also one of the reason that a custom frame costs a lot more than the stuff stamped out on factory production lines.