For me. Yamaha, Snakyo, Muramatsu, and Traver some where in between, then Hayens, Powell and Brennan.
Anythigs else, I would not even bother, really.

S^2

I have a Yamaha, so, I stick by that one!..haha. Great flute. But, I also love the Sonare...it`s a really great flute, with a lighter body then the typical open-yamaha...but, I am still true to my Yamaha

I am a pretty poor flutist now since I know what this instrument can do on othr people`s hands. I do not know how old you are, but if you want to know what the REAL INSTRUMENT is like, I strongly recommand you try other Japanese flutes, like Pearl, Muramatsu and Sankyo. I had a previllage to play a Powell. Gees. Yanmaha? Why do you bother?

What about Altus? I have found that they are amazing flutes with very impressive intonation.

Gemeinhardt and Armstrong are the bomb!

I suggest you find someone who owns Heinz, Powell, Brannen, or even Muramatsu or Sankyo DN or SR models (For Yamaha it`s got to be higher than 600 series.) You`ll know the difference immediately. Just hold one of them in your hands. You don`t need to play. You`ll know that they are begging to be played. Trust me.

S^2

I do trust you.

For a amateur or advanced student , a Yamaha is good enough.
But for a professional, marumatsu, sankyo, powell... are the best.

That depends on philosophy of teaching. My old teacher, who was the principal in Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, insisted that students, if serious, get a decent flute, in his case it had to be a Yamaha with silver head joint at the very least. Many of his students were using all-silver Muramatsu within a few months of taking lessons from him. This Sankyo CS model is my third flute, hand-made with .018-wall. I orderd it when I was in high school. It`s been over a long time, but it paid itself now. Although I don`t like my tone, Brazilians playing Samba or Cuban Salsa bands like my tone, stating that I can be heard over the sounds of drums. Its` been almost 30 years, but I think I would not have taken care this well of held up without any major work if it was anything less than this one...

My first flute was a Chinese Made "Hsin Hai" that I bought when I was in high school some years ago. For a whole year of learning and practising, I could hardly produce the lowest notes from C4 to E4. A year later I bought a Yamaha model with a solid silver head joint. The difference between this Yamaha and my Chinese flute is just like day and night... much much better.

However I feel the obvious difference again when I bought the new Marumatsu solid silver flute I bought last month. The tone is much better, richer, clearer than Yamaha. The keywork is also much better.