Good morning, AreFish...
To be taken for what it's worth; just my humble experience and opinion...
Bad drums are bad drums. If the hardware is not able to maintain the kit over time (set-up, tear-down, playing, transport...) then the sound will suffer. The hi-end kits should also have high-end hardware.
The subject was not, initially, to do so much with the cost of the kit, but its material. The difference between maple, oak, birch, stainless steel (used to be popular...), acrylic etc. is, imho, of much less importance than the tuning. All things being equal (that's to say: acoustic, no mics, same room etc...), one can get a damn fine sound out of all of these by tuning. There will be some extremes where one or other will be able to perform better, and will show up its natural characteristics, but these would not be considered a 'normal' drum sound in any case. In most cases, and for most usage, one can make any of these kits sound damned good, and very few could tell 'blind' what the material of the kit was, acoustically.
Just anecdotal, but I offer it anyway... A few years ago there was some attention given to a luthier creator of an aluminium violin. This was met with considerable scepticism, but the BBC organised a 'blind test' with, amongst others, a top-end Stradivarius. The panel of experts and critics, blind, could not pick out the Strad nor the ali fiddle; most 'preferred' the metal instrument whilst they were unaware of its composition. Not proof, of course; just sayin'.
A kit that costs more should have many advantage over a low-end kit; the potential for sounding good should not be one of them. What is considered low-end today was top quality when I was a lad. Vintage drums (I have a set...) did not have the advantage of modern evolutions (10-lug snares come to mind...). This did not prevent having, and maintaining, excellent phonic qualities. Some of the 'vintage' vibe is hype, but old kits, whatever their construction, can and do sound great, and are hunted for that reason. Their hardware, or condition, is another story (I would no longer want to tour with a vintage 'Premier' kit, for reliability reasons, but I can get it to 'sing', whatever its shell, with correct tuning...).
Others have better ears than myself, I will allow (especially now, 40 years on...).
Just my tuppence worth...
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