Depended very much on the CRTs used, there were very wide gaps in quality.

Even a now obsolete HP ZR2240w (24" 1920x1200@60Hz) was a huge upgrade from a 21" Hitachi Superscan Supreme https://crtdatabase.com/crts/hitachi/hitachi-superscan-21-cm...

That thing was at least Trinitron equivalent, if not better, because it lacked the thin wires holding the mask from within.

Now you are talking about the start of all that, OFC there were bad and cheap ones, but there was also very good stuff from the beginning by Eizo, Sharp, NEC, and many more.

Just as with CRTs.

I don't miss them.