Soil is cheaper on the set up and for the food. If you are thinking about going hydro it is not to hard at all. The are two things though that is improtant to do. YOu need to purchase something to measure the PH and PPM. With hydro you like like to keep your PH around 6 wich is lower then what you would want for soil. Also the PPM has to be measured also. When I first start clones that have rooted very well, I will run them at half strength for the first week. then each week the PPM goes up as the plant becomes stronger. One thing though encourage anyone doing hydro is once a week change the water in the res. Run it with just water for 24 hrs before adding the food. This get rid of any access nut. build up on the roots. As far as quality either is good. You can blow the quality in the drying and curring.