I love my FR-1xb. I have had many electronic instruments. I previously owned an FR-4xb. My keyboard/arranger is the Yamaha PSR-SX900, which is a very high quality model. Concerning the sound, onboard speakers on most electronic instruments (including all V-Accordions) are not intended for performances. They are just mediocre monitors. My SX900 sounds mediocre off its tiny little onboard speakers, but absolutely fabulous when I feed the instrument to a proper amplifier/speaker system. Same thing with all models of V-Accordion. When I feed my FR-1xb to a proper speaker system, it sounds indistinguishable from an FR-4/7/8x. Of course the 4/8 models have some sound sets that my FR-1xb does not. I'm not talking about that. What I am saying is that on equivalent sets, all V-Accordions fed to the same amplifier/speaker system sound exactly the same. The famous "Alpine" resident set (not the expansion) on my FR-1xb sounds exactly the same as the "Alpine" resident set on an FR-4/7/8x. They are indistinguishable. Of course the onboard speakers on the higher models do sound a bit better, but not really a whole lot better. For example, my previous FR-4xb's onboard speakers sounded a bit better than those on my current FR-1xb, but not of sufficient quality for performances, or even most practice work. In my music room I feed all my electronic instruments to a mixer board whose output is fed to a HiFi with proper 3-way speakers with 16" woofers. I mute all onboard speakers. I don't need them in my music room. But of course proper speaker systems cost money. If you want high quality sound, you have to pay for it. No exceptions. If you want an electronic instrument that has high quality onboard sound you have to pay big bucks. My wife has a Kawai piano that has a high quality onboard speaker system. It not only has some ten onboard speakers, it has a soundboard that is driven by a transducer. It's just like an acoustic. She paid $6,000 for it. A similar model that is portable (called a slab) is only $2,500. So you see, if you want high quality sound, you have to pay for a good speaker system. But it's not really a big deal. About $1,000 will do it. In today's world, pretty well all electronic instruments (accordions, pianos, arranger or synthesizer keyboards, organs, etc...) have sampled sounds that are as good as any concert quality acoustic instrument worth thousands. My SX900 and my wife's Kawai piano sampled sounds are better than any acoustic piano worth $50,000 or more. Despite what many people say on this forum, I claim that the sampled sounds on my FR-1xb and PSR-SX900 (it has accordion sounds) are as good as any acoustic accordion. But to realize that high quality, I have to feed them to a proper speaker system. It's just a fact of life. I have seen some accordionists at festivals using an FR-8x playing using their onboard speakers and stepping up to a microphone, as they would when using an acoustic accordion. That turns their $8,000 instrument into a $300 Walmart quality keyboard. However, by connecting the audio output to a proper stage mixer/amplifier/speaker system the sound is as good as any acoustic accordion. Even better because it eliminates stage feedback problems. Again, I love the FR-1xb. I sold my FR-4xb because I could no longer handle the weight. I'm a frail 78 years old. I miss the features of the FR-4x, but find my FR-1x to be perfectly adequate, and it's a lot easier to handle. Best of luck.