And it has happened that, at times, a recast does better with a character than whoever was originally cast. Yes, and sometimes worse.
Sometimes it is better, with recasts, to have them be a new and different character, and sometimes that is due to the writing not keeping the personality/character traits intact.
i.e. I really like Kyle Lowder, but currently, Rex is not the kind of man he used to be.
Recast Diana, in my opinion, was a huge fail, definitely not the kind of person she had been.
Ciara is currently a huge improvement over the previously SORAS'd Ciara. Matt Ashford was the 3rd (or 4th?) person cast as Jack, and has done a much better job, despite the horrendous writing the character has endured at times. Current Stefan, again in MY opinion, does much better Stefan.
But we all look at various characters differently. There are those who loved Kate Mansi in the role of Abby, and those who adored Marci Miller in the role. Each had a different take on the character which was very apparent being there was no huge time gap between their time as the now departed character.