100%
A bass in a mix and especially live never sounds the same as when solo'd at home. The enhanced mids from thuddy flats sit in a mix in a lovely way that sounds boring by itself. By the same token some clanky, trebly rounds that sound awful on their own work great in a band with a heavy handed keys player.
Personally, I love the sound of scooped mids when soloed but in a 4 or 5 piece band my scooped sound seems to disappear to the point that I can't hear myself.
I don't play a 5 string much anymore but when I did it was so dependent on the room that sometimes I had to totally avoid anything below the 5th fret on the B or it lost all definition as it bounced around the room. Now days it seems most FOH guys always run a high-pass on the bass so that usually helps but it doesn't sound like it does in the practice room vibrating the nails out of the walls through my amp.
The only 5 string I own now wears a set of light gauge strings and the B is totally clanky. It sounds terrible on its own but it works okay in a dense mix.
At present, half my basses wear flats (different brands) and half wear rounds (different brands). I'm too lazy to carry 2 basses to gig so I decide what I want to sound like ahead of the gig.
I doubt any of this matters to an audience. As long as the bass isn't droning mud to them I doubt anybody in the audience gives it a thought. They just pay attention to the singer, the lead guitarist and the theatrics of the drummer.
