Maybe. But case in point.
Watched a video with that Whitesea guy and Glen Fricker do a test of a free Distressor, Slate Distressor and a real Distressor.
The free was hands down dismissed as far inferior to the Slate and the Slate was considered 'pretty good' but it was decided that the real thing was the real thing by far.
That in part drove my decision to give a hybrid system a try. Worst case scenario if I'm not satisfied; I can resell the gear as it all respected hardware on the intertubes.