Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Manufacturers claim their chains and sprockets are mated to shift best together, but, IMO, the difference is marginal, if any, otherwise folks like Wippermann and KMC who only make chains would be out of business.
This is only true if the customer doesn't care about shift performance. Some combos will work 'ok', some combos will just suck. For example Sram RED cassette on all old 10 speed shimano. Or all 7800 on Sram cassette. It works, but you don't get the same shift performance you get from matched drivetrains. Even though not relevant to the OP's situation, 10/11 speed systems you really want to match everything. It's a crapshoot depending on what you're mixing.