To be honest, and in my humble opinion, if you grouped balls by their performance into 3 groups, rocks, mid-performance and premium balls, most people would be hard pressed to identify which was which, in any particular group, in a blind test.
I've been using the TP5 and Mizuno MP-S, with the odd sleeve of Pro-v's, for most of the last year. All 3 seem much of a muchness - maybe the MP-S the softest but no real difference and feel to the others. However, I put some Bridgestones in the bag a few weeks back - same top of the range stuff. I won't be buying them again. Off the tee and the fairway they feel the same and are pretty much the same distance-wise. They just don't seem to bite as much when hit into the green. That doesn't mean they are a worse ball, maybe I just don't compress them enough.
As to same manufacturers owning different brands, didn't Orio used to make bags for a number of brands?
I've been using the TP5 and Mizuno MP-S, with the odd sleeve of Pro-v's, for most of the last year. All 3 seem much of a muchness - maybe the MP-S the softest but no real difference and feel to the others. However, I put some Bridgestones in the bag a few weeks back - same top of the range stuff. I won't be buying them again. Off the tee and the fairway they feel the same and are pretty much the same distance-wise. They just don't seem to bite as much when hit into the green. That doesn't mean they are a worse ball, maybe I just don't compress them enough.
As to same manufacturers owning different brands, didn't Orio used to make bags for a number of brands?