Whether from habit, nostalgia or wishful thinking, I think that the higher powered Superman (ie, pre-Crisis) is better. Ridiculous niggling details, like the need for an air-supply in outer space --which says to me, "we don't know exactly how all his flying/vision powers work, but he must need oxygen!" --are aesthetically retarded and do a dishonour to the concept/character. This is a triumph of the fan/nerd over storytelling.
Yeah, did that bother anybody else? While I do agree with the belief that Superman can work at lower power levels, and overall the Superman: TAS people understood Superman well, when I saw Superman's Super-Spacesuit, I felt like shouting "bullsh..!" at the very top of my lungs.
This is a triumph of the fan over storytelling.
There is a difference between the mentality of a fan and the mentality of a professional writer. A fan would wonder if there is any ..... in the Phantom Zone and argue about this with his buddies over Mountain Dew. A professional would be expected to realize that such an unsavory detail would detract rather than add to the tone the Super-World creates and not touch upon it.
And while the best writers are ones that combine knowledge and respect for history with good old fashoined storytelling chops (namely, Steve Englehart and Kurt Busiek, arguably two of the five greatest comics writers ever), there are some writers that are consummate fans, yet do not have the ability to create interesting stories, characterize, or create imaginative concepts. An example of this is obviously Mark Gruenwald, who should have been a continuity cop instead of a writer (that said, I did appreciate his use in his CAPTAIN AMERICA run of N'Kantu the Living Mummy - you GO, Mark!) and ditto for the uninspired but detail-obssessed Roy Thomas, Mark Waid, and Paul Levitz.
Interesting how I can't think of a single writer who is a great storyteller, but is outright ignorant (or willfully in denial) of comics' history and shared universe. NOT ONE. Apparently, knowing and understanding what you're writing is a part of good writing (imagine that).
In the context of Superman's relation to other Earth heroes, it seems to me that aside from being the most "morally" powerful, he should also be the most physically powerful (vs various relative Johny-come-latelys as Green Lantern --I'll make an exception for the Spectre, in a sense the magical counterpart of Superman and another Siegel creation to boot). Superman should be a scientific genius as well for the same reasons (and maybe because of hereditity).
Superman HAS to be Super-Smart, obviously.
As for Superman being the most moral - hey, those old Silver Age guys also had personalities centered on "protecting and serving," with strongly rooted ethos. Detractors of the Silver Age say that all of them had the exact same personality, but this is untrue; like King Arthur's Knights they shared a worldview.