I'm not exactly a violin expert--just a novice player who's bought violins for three daughters through all the sizes as they learn. But I have been playing guitar and mandolin all my life and attended luthier workshops and done set-up and repair work on a lot of different instruments, so I feel like I have an eye for good instruments in general. That said, in my estimation this violin is a good value. Buying from China without seeing or playing an instrument first makes it impossible to know what you're getting, which is a problem for a pro musician who is very particular about their tone. However, if you can't spend $5,000-40,000 and you need a violin that is good enough to be within the range of quality that the instrument doesn't pose a limitation to musicianship, I would trust this shop's top-of-the-line offerings.