I have persnally grown to love the sound of an open, single ply snare head, that's the only way to get that pop, crack and "bite" that I love, I use single ply all around my kit but on the snare the duribility just isn't there...a few dents and your sound is dead. So I've look at these controlled sound heads for a while and wanted to try it out. These are awesome!!! It's got the sound I want, and the duribility I need, I play hard. It does just what the description says "it gives you two zones to play in". The middle is solid and fucused, with no ring, while the edges give a great rimshot sound with ring, but the two sound are drastically different, but it's a nice feature. The only reason I gave it a 4 for quality is I know it will hold up, but even after just a few sit downs, the coating is wearing away. This is the same coating found on the coated powerstroke heads, and it's different than the ambassadors or emperor's...it's not as durable. But overall, I'm pleased and the price is not bad. Buy it, your snare will sound great.

The Remo CS (Controlled Sound)is a very good drum head. It is strong (trust me. . .i put a beating on it) and very versitile. I play a mix of Jazz and Rock music. The dot on the head makes a good sounding crack for rock or for when you need a good "kick" in a big band. Just if you are planning to do jazz, make sure you get the dot on the bottom of the head for brushwork. I highly reccomend you GET THIS HEAD!!