I'll give you an example... 2.5 reed can be 2.25 or 3.0... In the same box... Not consistent, made a bit worse then older not DAddario ones, plastic comes off a bit easier sometimes, sound also became less sharp, maybe cane is not up to a standard or the standard is lowered, i don't know, but result is worse. You can get 1, maybe 2 playable reeds out of the box and you are lucky if you have many mouthpieces so you can use every reed with a different mouthpiece, but if you don't... For that price better go for other reeds.