Cant speak for soil, but this was my first grow ever and i did it with an aero/hydro setup. Aero is like hydro except instead of letting the nutrients sit in aerated water, the roots suspend in air, allowing them free access to as much oxygen as they could possibly want. There is also no grow medium used, so it does not affect ph. You essentially just have a net cup, and a neoprene collar.
The nutrients are delivered via a water pump, through misters that are attached to the tubing that the water pump is feeding.
A true aeropomic system is a high pressure closed system that has a reservoir for nutrients, seperately from the reservoir your plant roots sit in. The nutes spray at a high pressure to be absorbed most efficiently by the roots, and then drains back to the res. This is the system nasa tests with in space. Its expensive though and requires tons of attention. Yield is supposed to be incredible.
I personally use a hobbyist version of aero a.k.a. low pressure, which is basically what i described in the 1st paragraph. I also use the same tank for res and plant roots, but its only filled up to the top of the pump intake. Eventually the roots get long enough to reach the water, and the constant misting aerates the water, so i think of it as a hybrid aero/hydro.
Anyway the low pressure ones can be made simply using rubbermaid storage containers and pvc. They definitely require more maintenance and monitoring, but once you get the hang of it, its basically just checking ph/e.c. daily. Im more of a tech/science guy which is why i love this system. I think if you enjoy this kind of stuff, your ceiling is probably significantly higher, but if you dont enjoy it, it could suck the passion out of you.
Just scientifically speaking, youre going to get bigger yields when your roots have no resistance in regards to growing, and have a infinite supply/access to oxygen, but now youre also complicating things bc the roots are more vulnerable to root/nute temps, proper supplements, ph issues can really affect your plants more quickly, and cause more damage. And if you got a lot of plants, youd need a generator, bc if the power goes out, your pumps go out too. Especially true in high pressure systems where the pumps are the only access to nutes
with soil you have to check runoff constantly trying to read your plants to figure out if it’s deficiency or toxicity and how to correct it. Don’t get me wrong a lot of people say soil is easier and other have say hydro. IMO for me hydro is just plain easy I know exactly everything my plants get and when they get it. Plus plants grow 30% quicker and bigger than soil. Follow my grows at 
