Having mostly used shallower snares over the last years - the 14x4 and 13x3 Pearl Maple Piccolos have been my go-to snares for some time - I decided to go a bit deeper and to purchase this 14x5 Maple Free Floater.
Soundwise, this snare drum has not disappointed me at all. The fullness and richness of the maple wood is present at all volumes and the drum speaks very clearly at low volumes too! It tunes easily up or down, and has a sweet, controllable ring.
The Satin Laquer natural wood finish looks a dream, the edges all smooth, and the die-cast hoops are very sturdy. My only gripe really is the tension rods: although I´m not at all a hard hitter, I do like to spice up my backbeats with a tasty rimshot every now and then, and I found that the tension rods at the places of impact (8 and 4 o´clock) de-tune like there´s no tomorrow. That, of course, is a bit strange to happen with a drum of this calibre, but I´ll be getting some locks/tight screws etc to solve that issue.
Other than that, a highly recommendable snare drum to use in a wide variety of musical settings. Enjoy!