Do not forget though that not all CRTs were made the same. There was a huge variation in dot pitch, or even the "subpixel layout" (think Trinitron). Also, not all CRTs had nice black levels; either the screen still reflected/scattered a lot of ambient light, or some CRTs just had a black offset level that ensured even fully black pixels still emitted some light, or a combination of both. Phosphor decay times also varied.

The graphics cards themselves also mattered, RAMDACs aren't perfect.