I was under the impression that Bob V. was paying extra (and charging extra) for cell matching above and beyond TP's normal process.

As far as TP's cell holding up better than all the rest, I can tell you the first generation TP Extremes sure did not hold up worth a poop. The chinese had leap-frogged the koreans in lower IR for a while there. I hear TP's new 40C cells are pretty good though.