There is definitely a difference between boar and badger. I have a heck of a time getting a good lather built with the boars, especially with soap. I used my travel tube badger for the past 5 days, and didn't have any trouble with that, even though this was its first use. I suppose I'll keep trying the boars every now and then, but honestly, since I've found something that works, I'm not really inclined to change.
As far as scratchy boar brushes, buy a low quality, no name brush from Amazon and you will see. Even a $10 Omega brush, though inexpensive, is stiff but gentle because there is quality there.