Stock Rom vs Custom Rom - Exxagerated?

[fiyah]

Hey guys... I am mostly still a lurker on the site, although my recent purchase of the Touch Pro (Sprint) and its less limited RAM has amped up my PPCGeeks usage slightly. As a result, I have never really been a Custom ROM guy (never tried one... will maybe try one if Tpro 2 gets ported right). I recently came across a video here that shows up the snapiness of custom roms. In order to compare I simply reproduced those same efforts on my stock sprint rom with my PPCGeeks tweaks. I was pretty much able to reproduce the same "snapiness" running up to 14 programs at the same time.

So my question is this: HONESTLY. How much of a difference in performance is there between the Custom Roms and a tweaked Sprint stock rom (I heard Verizon sucks). Do people on here exaggerate the difference slightly?

What are the real benefits of the Custom Roms that stock sprint rom users can't enjoy?

Disclaimer: This is not a slight to the custom rom builders at all. I constantly check your threads and am very impressed with the work and effort you guys put into these builds and supporting them. Kudos to you guys!