Had a lot of Meinl cymbals over the years, at one time all my cymbals were Meinl's (Byzance, Soundcaster Custom, Mb10 and Mb20). But kinda wanting to try out Paiste at one point, and got bit by that bug, so I sold off a lot of my Meinl's. Still have a Byzance crash, splash, and a M-Series Heavy hat left (that last one I don't really like, to clangy sounding for my taste, not sounding all that good in semi-open position...). Really recommend them as a company though, but nowadays, in my opinion, all the big companies (and several small ones too) make great cymbals, so it's just a matter of personal taste and price/availability. One thing is for sure though, the prices of Meinl has gone up and is the same, or even more expensive, than the other big 3's (Zildjian, Sabian and Paiste) as far as I know. I remember back in the mid 2000's, Meinl cymbals were about half the price of the other companies, so I got really into them because of that. Of course, the cymbals sounded great as well, but when I can get a K/K Custom, HHX or 2002/Signatures for the same price as a Byzance.... Well, let's just say it's hard to pick a favorite brand/cymbal line out of all those choices, when pricing are equal.