My wife's Bernina is one of, if not the best sewing machine she's owned. It's a work horse and there is nothing cheap or tinny about it. I do not fault it for the stitch quality in this case due to the thickness of the top stitching thread.
But, that Alden is something else. It's all steel, I've yet to find any plastic inside and when it runs it's the most solid sounding ZZ machine I have. My 401A sounds like a thrashing machine in comparison.
I was just being ornery when I was teasing my wife. I'll wager that with the larger needle the Bernina does better.
Joe