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Dusty Strings has a web page that talks about the sound quality of different woods; in my experience their descriptions is very accurate! https://manufacturing.dustystrings.com/blog/when-does-wood-choice-harps-matter It does come down to personal preference at the end of the day. When I was harp shopping, I knew I wouldn’t be able to try one out because there isn’t really harp show rooms where I live. I first narrowed my decisions to brands that I can reasonably obtain in my area, and then from where I check out the sound samples of different models on YouTube to help me finalize my decision. The sound sample really is just a sample, and it’s difficult to say how good the recordings were made. I looked around for multiple of sound samples for the same harp in order to get a good enough idea of the sound.