Perhaps this discussion will help clear things up for you. While this is focused on the role of MIDI Channels in the Score Editor it is also applicable in general, especially on the use of “Any” vs. a MIDI Channel Number in the Track settings and how those settings interact with the Channel Numbers assigned to the MIDI Events (like Note-on messages) themselves.
Also beware the way the forum inserted the solution quote it looks like the answer to the original poster’s question “Are these the same thing?” is me saying yes. But that is really a yes to a post near the end. To this initial question the answer is - no they are different (as Martin does in the initial response).