That's just a myth in my opinion. Either box can have either quality, and in some cases, both qualities. if that makes any sense.
Ported boxes are undoubtedly louder than sealed. how much louder depends on a lot of factors, but to generalize, a lot of the times a ported box with one sub will be just as loud to the ear as 2 in a sealed box.
sealed boxes do have their place. but i think people get too caught up in the idea that sealed boxes sound better and ported boxes sound sloppy, which, frankly, isn't true.
ported boxes can sound great if built right. they can keep up with heavy metal drums and still kill the low notes in hip hop/rap music.
i'd argue to say that 90% of how a subwoofer sounds comes down to the box it's in.