It's really all in the heat treat. An OK steel with a good heat treat will outperform the newest whiz-bang steel with a poor heat treat. And the more complex the steel gets, the more complicated becomes a proper heat treat.
Yep. I forget what the steel is on my SOG Trident, but it's high end and won't hold an edge for anything. I dulled it the other day (22 degree sharpening angle) cutting the tar-like stuff that BMW used to secure insulation to a door so that I could work on the window regulator. This stuff is about the consistency of chewing gum.
Meanwhile, I've split oak logs with my Gerber LMF II and if memory serves that's just 1020 low-carbon steel.