I equate it to being the Ford F150 crewcab of cycling groups of that era. A workhorse that can be used to transport things to a job, room enough to take to the mountains and cleans up well enough that the valets dont snicker behind your back when its date night with mama
Technically its not nicer than Campagnolo Athena -- (my opinion, and thats based on appearance) but it used to be utilized on bikes from $1500 factory built Giants and Treks, all the way up to custom bikes
I recall seeing both a Simonetti and a Colnago bi-titan roll out of the same shop wearing 600 tri color
Functionally, its good enough that someone trusted its use on his $4000 Bi-Titan (in 1994 dollars) , As well, its a good enough group that ive collected several 600 groupsets for use on future projects