Re: Klon vs Soul Food
an overdrive pedal in a small box versus an overdrive pedal in a big shiny box. whatever.
Put a bassist, a drummer, maybe another guitarist or keys in the room as well as an industrially deaf sound engineer and a corners full of acoustic traps and weird reflections, not to mention a bunch of people out drinking and you will get a real idea of the differences. All of this cork sniffing suddenly becomes irrelevant.
Some people like to collect stuff for its collectability. Wine bottles, for example people will buy for thousands of dollars even if the wine has turned to vinegar inside. In the end, all pedals are just a bunch of small electrical components wired together. There really is not much difference in terms of component quality between the very cheapest factory built pedals and the most expensive hand built offerings. 
Buy the expensive one if you are a collector and can afford it, buy the cheaper one if you cant. In the end, the biggest difference will come from who is playing, not what the pedal looks like.