not much info about dream cymbals out there so I figured id post up about mine. I havent had it long and first impressions were it looked great and came with a nice little info packet and bag. the bell on this thing is gorgeous and sounds great too espeacilly for a bell on a crash. anyway the overall sound is louder then my 18 in aax bit no quite as bright. my best way to describe the sound would be cutting, pretty loud, fairly bright but not in the same category as aax and a custom, to me it seems to have a little trash in its sound too but that is once again compared to aax and I have heard from other drummers who use energy crashes the more you play the more the trashy sound mellows out which to me is a good thing. overall all I think for costing about 150 new it is a steal and im guessing the contact line only being 100 would be even more of a steal but I needed the extra cut of the energys so I shelled out for it. As for durabilty, and things determined by time I can not review casue I have not owned mine near long enough.