I go by what I hear and old pre WW2 banjos are different. Kinda like Martin Guitars are different, one may not like the sound but nobody could not hear the difference.

That said for allaround value for yer buck and assuming you later want to sell the thing for as much or more than you paid, buying a Gibson would be a really bad idea, but a Vega is almost to easy these days.

I echo and emphasize what is reported about Mike Seger above, but add my encounter was not with either Mr Seger or his Ladie but a beaten up old Vega Tubbie with a hide top in the hands of a wizard of the banjo playing early Bluegrass. Outside of the radio recordings of Scruggs which I own, I have never heard anything on any stringed instrument so beautifull or memorable.

I add too that I rarely hear a well played Openback that I do not like so if it's a Reiter etc or a cheapo Korean I have no idea since I mostly don't care to notice.