I've got a couple of cheap £2-300 acoustic guitars knocking around. Freshman and Lindo, and while they're very much both budget guitars, the Eko is loads better both in build and sound quality. Having been gifted it and not knowing anything about them I was extremely surprised to find out that they were a cheap guitar given the quality. Maybe they just aged well I don't know. I've played my mates 3K Taylor and I actually prefer the Eko.