This cajon sounds simply great, but do not expect the traditional cajon sound. The snare sounds a little dry to my taste and I wouldn't say that this is the best sounding cajon outhere, but it definitely sound much better than the cheap cajons. Everyone is blown away by the sound and the versatility that this Cajon offers. I used to think that the hi-hat and conga-like sounds are a gimmick,but I use the hi-hat all the time now. You should know that this cajon is very heavy! It's really hard to carry around this thing if you don't have a car. Probably the heaviest cajon ever. I had a little problems with the string attaching thing on the side of the cajon, but I don't ever turn the snares off, so this is not such a big deal. Sometimes the snares turn off by themselves but I managed to get them in a position that is OK,and they don't cause problems. Recently I had a gig, where another player with a cheap cajon played before me and it sounded terrible, we were thinking that the sound engineer was the problem, but as soon as I brought my Cajon on the stage, it sounded great!
The first impressions from the cajon were not so great, it takes a little time to understand how to get the best tone out of it. For example you should not hit it in the middle, the best Bass sound is produced on the upper third of the cajon. I would have given 5 stars for sound, but because of the snare that sounds a little undefined and dry for my taste,I will give it a 4. I don't think that this is the right cajon to buy for this price, but it is certainly great! You won't find more versatile one for sure! It says what it's supposed to do - it tries to be a drum set replacement