Not snobbery at all. Perhaps a little bit too much of a sweeping statement but there’s reason behind it.
I’ve bought many a cheap, random brand tools from ebay etc and then bought something Sealey or Draper expecting a known brand to be better only to find the tool to be identical to the no name cheapy.
I’ve got plenty of Sealey Stuff. Drawers full of sockets and the holders which they sit on. Spanners, pliers etc. Some of it’s really nice but it’s always the Premier line stuff that’s good and everything I’ve ever bought that was non Premier has been pants.
I’d say anything you’ve got that’s decades is probably not comparable to today’s stuff.
That’s not just Sealey or Draper. I’ve got Britool WW spanners for work that are probably 20 years old and apart from being scratched up, they’re still perfectly useable. I’ve got Britool stuff that I bought a couple of years ago and the plating has already worn off on lightly used spanners. The name unfortunately means nothing these days.
Same for vices, buy a Record from the 60s and compare it to a modern one. They both say Record but they’re not even close to one another in terms of quality.
I guess it sounded snobby and I’m sure there are exceptions but my experience is that the cheap stuff is cheap for a reason.