Flute shop with me! || Round 2/4

[@augustosilva8903]

Great insights. Thank you 😊

[@hermionemouse]

I tried to Azumi and Di Zhao out of this list. I chose the Di Zhao, but the Azumi was a close contender. It came down to price and I didn’t care for the Z cut headjoint on the Azumi. Both flutes are really good.

[@maniestacio9245]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us; this was such an excellent comparison! You featured some of the models I’ve been eyeing for purchase, myself, and your thorough review of each flute left me with little to no questions! I am curious as to which instrument you ended up with when it was all said and done (whether from here or your other trial videos) and also your general opinion of the 795 vs the 700 specifically?

[@TheFlyingPuffin]

Thank you for watching, I'm so happy it has been helpful! I of course did so much extra testing and playing off camera that I couldn't include so I was worried these videos wouldn't show them clearly enough. Between the Pearl 795 and the Di Zhao 700 I'd recommend the Di Zhao, personally, because it produces notes in the 1st octave so much better than the Pearl. However, my mom was deciding between the Di Zhao 600 and 700 and opted for the 600 because it was very similar but was just missing some of the extra trill keys, rollers, and fancy case -- so give the 600 a try as well if you're considering a Di Zhao! And in the end I chose the Yamaha 677, and I'm so pleased with it after several months! I think I played that one in my 3rd review video, and discussed my reasons for choosing it over the Muramatsu EX in the 4th video.

[@acidforblood]

@@TheFlyingPuffin How well does the AZ3 compare to a Yamaha 500 or 600 series flute? I say 500 series first cus they are close in price if the AZ3 has all the bells and whistles. I hear the AZ3 is light weight but I question how well its made. I'd like to hear your input on these thanks.

[@TheFlyingPuffin]

@@acidforblood I have not played a a Yamaha 500 series, so I can't compare to that, but from what I remember about the Azumi (both the AZ2 and AZ3), they are somewhat lighter weight than most of the flutes in this range. I personally didn't like their tone as much and found it to be a bit thinner and lighter than what I was looking for, especially when compared to the Yamaha 677 (which I ended up buying). Overall, I feel Yamaha makes very decent flutes. The Yamaha 322 I tried was a very nice flute for its range (it just didn't compare to the others quite as well since it was a lower range flute). As for quality of the Azumi line, I don't have any insight except anecdotally: The AZ2 and AZ3 I had on loan both had mechanism issues (on one, the C lever on the footjoint was misaligned and got stuck under the E flat key, and on the other, the split E mechanism was loose and a key would drop down when it shouldn't). These are surely issues that could be fixed with a little adjustment, however, it struck me as odd that the two out of the entire set of flutes that I tried that had any issues were both from the same brand/line. It's possible this was just a coincidence, so take that with a grain of salt! In this range, I found that there were no bad flutes, just flutes with varying characteristics. Which one will work best for you in this range will depend more on your playing style and preferences, in my experience.

[@acidforblood]

@@TheFlyingPuffin Thanks for your thoughts on this much appreciated. Ya I've heard that there seems to be quality control issues with the Azumi line on some of their flutes by reading lots of forum posts, Reddit etc. For the ones that work the customers are happy, but whenever I hear Yamaha flutes talked about I hardly ever hear bad things other than that the fact that the 200-400 series were made in Indonesia which many consider inferior to Japan. I think the quality control is still decent there though and probably is closely monitored regardless of whether its not handmade in Japan which I believe the 500 up flutes are. Yamaha seems to care about their reputation and lets not forget that their income for flute R&D probably comes from the surplus revenue that they get from their other products outside of music. If they need more money its never an issue if I had to guess where as most handmade flute manufacturers need to mark up their flutes significantly in order to pay for the manufacturing and labour costs.

[@breakfastplan4518]

Indeed. The Azumi is also not a standard cooper scale flute like the other flutes you played. The z-cut headjoint is the only thing holding the AZ3 back. I played one ( in-line ) with the z-cut headjoint and hated it. Then, the lovely lady of the flute shop put a brannen headjoint in it and low and behold, it was a different instrument altogether. Quite a pleasure to play, actually. And yes gold has a warmer sound, I wouldnt say fuzzier but most certainly darker and significantly more hollower than a silver riser. The other factor people dont consider is in-line keywork versus off-set key work. In-line flutes tend to play and sound a bit better than the off-set. I dont understand the science behind it, but I have 22 years of demoing to back it up.