Ok,In my past, I've purchased a good 5 or 6 chinese saxophones, but unfortunately none really sounded like a real sax. Some even sounded like a trumpet.Some were ok. Like the tenors were more sax sounding than the altos, and the altos were better than the sopranos.But I've been pleasantly surprised with my Glory alto sax!No wonder it's rated number 2 in the list of best budget saxes of 2016! Number 1 was a sax more than 4x more expensive.It's definitely better than the 25% more expensive Mendini sax I own!It just sounds more like a sax, and the notes are more dead on than with the mendini, which in octave 2 gets more than a quarter note off scale.The instrument is beautiful (I got the plain black with golden keys), it's heavy, but not too heavy (mendini was heavier); it sounds great, and is easy to play.The provided mouthpiece is a practice mouthpiece, it doesn't go very loud.I paired it with a $20 Yamaha 4c mouthpiece, and it was a tad louder in the mid tones. It also more easily could play the lower notes. With the stock mouthpiece low D and C were hard to impossible to play. With the Yamaha mouthpiece, only the low C.I definitely will go for a better mouthpiece soon!I think mine needs to be set up, as the 4 lowest notes are really hard to play.The neck strap like usual needs replacement. I wonder why in this day and age they would still provide a non-neoprene padded strap for anything heavier than a soprano.Though the neck strap comes to good use for my EWI, which I have lost the strap for.My impression of the Glory sax lineup, is that in essence, they're all the same saxes, with as difference that there is the basic sax, the upgraded one (with a design in the bell and on the body), and the vintage saxes, with eye for detail on the paint and body designs. But all should emit about the same sound quality.Since for me this was a budget conscious choice, I went with the base model, and only paid $10 more for the black version with the golden keys.The reed on the sax was a bit of poor quality and chipped, so I have ordered synthetic reeds (bamboo/plastic mix, not regular plastic) for this sax.Overall I would say for beginners there is no better bargain out there to start out with. Whether you play in class, or play in a band, this sax is up for the task of the beginner and intermediate.Professionals too, can purchase one of these funky color saxes, and enjoy a decent sax sound.This sax probably doesn't have the reliability or sound quality of a $2k+ sax, and parts may be harder to find, but really, at $300, you just buy yourself another sax; which is what one repair with parts on a $2k sax easily cost anyway!So for the beginner and intermediate this is a great buy. For the pros, (aka, anyone with 2+ years of experience playing in bands) it's a nice gadget as tertiary sax, to take to sketchy gigs, or in places were sound quality matter less over looks!I would definitely buy a Glory sax again, it's the first Chinese sax, I would use in live settings!It sounds great!