I think when people have issues with LEDs it’s because they don’t have enough of them. Bubba runs 10 XR15s and t5, Chaswood runs 2 AIs over a small cube, I run 4 48” Photon V2s, so the overlap that’s created helps tremendously. I don’t have shading issues, and none of these guys really do too.Your tank is a solid argument for led only as are a few others here that I’ve seen. I believe MrV also is led only (radions) as well as some people showing off in the Reefi led thread.
I believe the key is simply having enough power to maintain adequate par at a height that is higher than usual.
For example: 1 AI prime, 1.5ft up over a 50g display isn’t going to cut it.