Yeah the thing that makes T5s great is the very soft, uniform spread of light. That does help reduce shading and harsh shadows, especially compared to highly focused LEDs like kessils. A similar effect to T5's can be achieved by using LEDs with the lenses removed, adding supplemental strip lights, using frosted acrylic diffusers, and/or getting LEDs that come with wide reflectors rather than lenses from the factory (such as Reefis). Large panel style LEDs (like Orpheks, Philips CoralCare) will always perform better than compact modules in terms of spread and shading.
With that said, I think T5s will always inherently be the gold standard in this regard. The question is whether that benefit outweighs the benefits of LEDs and for me personally that is a no.
