Gene, based upon your advice I asked Santa for - and received - a Suzuki Promaster in the Key of C. Also, my kids me got a Hohner Golden Melody in the Key of Bb.They both look, play, and sound great! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

I can add the Hohner Crossover to my list.

It's really better than I was expecting. The sound is much better than the sound of the special 20s. The 20s sound dull and muddy by comparison. The crossover is louder too. I think the coverplates are mostly what's responsible for the improved sound. They're much more open.

Compared to Suzuki Promasters I can't say if the sound is better or worse, just that it's brighter.

It's also slightly brighter than the Seydel Blues Session Steel, but not by much. It's hard to compare though since there's only like one note I could test on equal terms.

Playability seems about the same as a special 20. My crossover is in E, and it plays about the same as the special 20 in F, which is to say, easy to play and bend the 2 draw, harder to bend the 3 (but doable), and the high holes take a lot of air (which I assume is a trait if the high keys).

Overall the sound is great, but if the question is "Is it worth nearly double the price of a special 20?" then I don't know. And if the question is "Is it worth an extra 1/3rd the price of a Promaster?" Like I said, it's a different sound, but it's going to depend on if you like bright or dark as to what you'd rather have.

I have couple of Hohner Chromonica 270 in different keys.
Recently i bought a Suzuki Chromatix SCX-48 in F. Sounds really good. It does have a somewhat "harder" tone the the Hohner harmonica.
I do really like the SCX-48 , it is easy to play and nice on your mouth. Rounded mouthpiece.

I own a g harmonica