The answer to your primary question must be no. One is not necessarily better than the other.
I currently own 15 Rogers Dyna-Sonic snare drums. The earliest is unplayable. The lugs are cracked. That drum is a 1961 first generation Dyna. The 170th drum to wear the badge. Hard to argue that drum being a Covington built drum is better than a Big R period drum that has never failed.
So my drums span 1961 to 1984 when Rogers shut down. There are numerous variations in lug weight, build changes, throw off design, hoop variations, hoop design changes, but over all....... it is one and the same drum. However, a 1964 drum is not going to sound exactly like a 1984 drum. They will be similar. This would be true of any snare drum built over a couple of decades. The same would be true comparing an early Ludalloy Supraphonic through the years with drums from different time periods. Even though they are essentially the same drum.
If you decide to go with an oval badge drum, you might pay a little more ... or not. In August I purchased an excellent condition 1964 Seven Line Dyna-Sonic for 300.00. A week ago, I purchased an excellent condition 1975 first issue Big R for 200,00. Both of those were excellent prices on drums that should have sold right around 500 and 375 respectively.
Sound quality from any year is going to be stellar. There are no dogs to bark. Quality of build is not a problem on this drum, over the entirety of its 23 year life span. I could be perfectly happy sitting down to any of the drums I own without reservation for how it will perform, or sound, or function.