Here is a good, albeit dated, primer. It goes over the basics, but it has no information on steels like S30V, CPM 3V, VG-10, H-1, or any of the Chinese steels out there that either didn't exist or weren't on the domestic market when it was written.
http://www.knifeart.com/steelfaqbyjo.html
So is 440 type steels better then steels like AUS 6 and AUS 8?
I would consider 440C better than AUS anything, but it rarely appears in knives anymore as there are more modern "high end" stainless steels that have replaced it in mass manufacture.
As the FAQ I linked says, there is a rough equivalence between AUS and 440 series based upon chemical composition with the 440 steels holding a small carbon edge (better) for the most part:
AUS6~440A
AUS8~440B
AUS10~440C
One rarely sees AUS-10 or 440C anymore, having been supplanted by ATS-34, 154CM, VG-10 and S30V on the high end, but still being too specialty manufactured to be on mid-to low level knives.
AUS-8 is usually seen on foreign sourced (Japanese and Taiwanese) knives hovering in the $75-100.00 range, as you have found out. The domestically sourced 154CM usually competes here too, for slightly higher prices, but provides a better steel for the dollar too. One also sees various knives using 12C27 Sandvik from Sweden, which I believe slots in like being a 440A+ but not quite to B or AUS-8.
AUS-6 usually appears on foreign sourced knives from Japan and Taiwan that used to sport AUS-8. 440A is the competitor that appears on domestic knives like the KaBar Next Gen F/UK. This steel is serviceable, but like I think I demonstrated, for just a few dollars more, you can do way better than this and get into a VG-10 laminate.
On the low end is where people are getting taken for a ride. Here you have a cocktail of mostly imported knives from China, some featuring featuring mystery steels, though I have to say that name brand manufacturers such as Spyderco's Byrd subsidiary and CRKT have made the integrity somewhat less suspect.
8Cr13MoV is a Chinese analog to AUS-8. The problem is that there is the similarly designated 3CR13, which is an analog to 420J2--the absolutely most garbage stainless steel used as blades. Let's put it this way--a top of the line manufacturer, like Benchmade, uses 420J2 as
liners in their folding knives, not as blades. Since people are unfamiliar with Chinese steel designations, they wind up thinking they got a deal on price when they actually got taken on quality. The absolute minimum blade steel one should purchase is 420HC, the HC standing for "high carbon," and like I stated earlier in the thread, Buck is the major company that makes serviceable knives out of it because their heat treater, Paul Bos, is a world class technician who maximizes the potential of that limited steel.
If one must really have an inexpensive fixed blade, I steer them towards the Moras, which are excellent values with long track records of performance. the carbon steel ones use 1095 and the stainless ones feature 12C27. The stainless ones are a bargain compared to what is used for blades in the rest of the sub-$30.00 stainless steel market, especially considering that most are less than twenty bucks.
They just don't look cool, these few being as "badass" as they get.