If your issue with Ubuntu is Ubuntu-specific patches, I don't think Debian is a solution. They patch a lot.
I personnaly think it's too much mostly because I don't value most of the reasons Debian patches (I don't care about exotic architectures - I value conformance to upstream more than the ability to have modular and small packages - I don't care about having some non-free parts in my package).
I personnaly think it's too much mostly because I don't value most of the reasons Debian patches (I don't care about exotic architectures - I value conformance to upstream more than the ability to have modular and small packages - I don't care about having some non-free parts in my package).