ok here is a part of what I was looking for :

Famitsu: Rare equipment obtained from NM or specific content and equipment that was crafted, material crafted; how much different do you think the stats will be?

Yoshida: If going by original stats of equipment then equipment from NM or specific content is stronger but… want to say will explain in forums! But we are preparing a method which can be better than NM drop stats. (laugh)
but it's not the exact quote I had in mind. I'll keep looking since Yoshi says he would explain in forums, which I am sure he did and said that : crafted items with multiple materia > NM/dungeon gears > crafted items with no materia/(one materia?).