I Try Every Violin on Amazon 🎻

In this video, I try 8 different instruments to find which Amazon violin is the best value (so you don't have to!)

0:00 - Intro
0:22 - Unboxing ASMR
00:45 - $23
1:00 - $39
02:47 - $90
04:15 - $130
05:23 - $170
07:16 - $340
09:57 - $575
12:06 - $740

[todo]

Me: That sounds pretty good
Him: Terrible
Me: Terrible

[generaladmi]

I fully agree with the 340$ violin, however, I think you might be getting a second-hand refurbished violin with a better sound only at a slightly higher price.

[lordneeko]

The $39 clip shows that even a crap violin sounds beautiful in the hands of a professional, to the ears of an amateur. 😊

[benfreedman]

Fun fact is a couple weeks before this video came out. I recommended the bunnel for one of my beginner Violin students... she got it last week and we agreed that it's a really nice instrument for the price! Imagine my surprise when I saw you review it!

[SeasickSailor]

Ray, you could play a $20 snare drum and make it sound like a decent violin! 😀 Provided you used your own bow, of course. 😛

[Greenteac]

You can tell how happy Ray is every time he gets to talk about his Strad 🤭

[kitchen-knife-]

Sibelious on a $39 violin gives you chills for a different reason.

[PaulinaAiko]

I exclusively played on an $80 amazon violin for the first 7-8months of learning until I found out rentals were a thing! Of course I wish I would have switched earlier, but at the same time not sure I would have even started playing the violin if it weren’t for the easy and cheap amazon option to just try it out in the first instance, so super thankful for that 😊

[-Elmimaru_]

I have the 340$ violin I was scared about what you’d say about it but I’m happy that you rated it good I’ve used it for about 3 months and it works good for a beginner!

[sarina]

The Bunnel violin is only $280 direct from Kennedy Violins the manufacturer. They also have clearance models with small imperfections or discontinued varnishes starting at $270. My kids are really young and will keep on growing out of small violins so I buy them from Kennedy Violins. Buying is already cheaper than rental and I don't have to worry about kids accidentally breaking an expensive rental.

[BobHopePot]

Please play more of each one, especially the cheap ones! Very interesting video!

[mrittikafadikar]

"this is the best thing you will ever have" to the green violin was personal.

[Wooster]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Amz product pages for some of those violins will soon say "played and endorsed by Ray Chen."

[penguinlover]

I liked the sound of the 90 dollar and the 340 dollar ones the most
Thank you for the cute and fun reviews!

[gillian]

Maybe you can try using the bows provided to play your own violin? It will be a very interesting experiment on how the bow affects the quality

[MutedNyan]

8:14 blud was about to play jingle bells

[bradingrao]

Love these comparisons. As an audiologist and audio geek, I'd love to chat with you about some ways to make these comparisons more data driven and also accessible to musicians with hearing loss. Keep up the great work!

[PorcupineTheOneandOnly]

I wish he'd give more reason as to why it sounds like trash to him, because all I can tell is that one is softer (the $90 one), and the other is screechier and louder (the $130 one). Would that be his reason? We wouldn't know exactly because his critique is just like "that's trash". I would want more intellectual reasoning behind the feelings for these critiquings.

[arcticradio]

You do know you can buy an old circa 1800 German violin for under 300 Euros? That’s what I bought and then got the top plate restored and hey presto I have a fantastic sounding violin that outperforms the cheaper modern day more expensive violins 😊

[goldika]

When I started to learn the violin 3 years ago I bought a Stentor for 180€ online (a cheaper model than this). It did well for the very start but after 6 months I upgraded to a violin from the luthier, which was a huuge difference!
When buying a cheap (old) violin online I would recommend giving a close look at the varnish. You can see quite easily if it's industrial varnish or not and that often tells a lot about the overall quality 🙃