I had a 996 that handled like a pig on it's standard showa's until I had the suspension setup. Once it was setup I could do whatever I wanted with it really.
Then I bought the 998R which obviously has ohlins all round. I was looking forward to getting it on a track to see how good it was and it was rubbish! It felt like a barge. A call to Neil Spalding from Sigma later and we put on a bunch of base settings he's used previously and bingo - a very neutral and sweet handling bike.
Any bit of suspension is going to be shite unless it's in decent condition and well setup. Now that I've ridden them both setup well I can say the ohlins are far smoother across the same piece of road than the showa's were - even thoughboth got me round there. I guess it means you'd be more confident on the ohlins because there's good feedback etc.
Just my 20p worth
