As a life-long sax player, I'm comfortable recommending a Yanagisawa over anything else.

I owned a Selmer soprano from 1991 to 2016 and loved it, but I sold it in 2016 and bought a Yanagisawa as to me personally it was far superior to my Selmer and played so much better than my Selmer ever did. The specifics were:

1. Notes in the highest octave spoke much easier and much more clearly than they did on my Selmer.

2. Intonation throughout the entire range of a Yanagisawa was far superior to my Selmer as I did not have to "humor" nearly as many pitches to play in tune like I did on the Selmer, especially in the highest octave. The lower octave notes also spoke very well and the balance over the entire instrument was superior to my Selmer. I got a much richer tone from the Yanagisawa.

3. Overall the Yanagisawa was personally the finest soprano I'd ever played. (I first tried them one year at TMEA when I took my Selmer mouthpiece with me when visiting the vendors area to try them). The Yanagisawa mouthpiece also wound up being superior to the Selmer mouthpiece I used for decades as the tone was slightly darker than what I got with the Selmer C✶ mouthpiece as well as I got a richer tone overall with the included Yanagisawa mouthpiece that came with the one I later purchased in 2016.

Now for the negative and why I sold the Yanagisawa less than a year after buying it:

1. I made the huge mistake of getting one with a silver finish. I literally spent more time polishing it than I did playing it. The silver finish on a sax to me was a nightmare to keep wiping away the tarnish spots that inevitably creep in all over the instrument, especially in the hard to reach places around all of the key posts and tone holes.

2. I also made the huge mistake of buying one that had 2 different interchangeable necks which was a pain as it was a big hassle dealing with having to be careful not to damage the octave key mechanism when putting on either of the necks into the instrument body as well as simply putting the mouthpiece onto the neck was difficult in order not to damage the octave key mechanism when the necks would sometimes start to swivel when putting on the mouthpiece.

That said, I'm actually planning to buy a new one-piece Yanagisawa soprano in January but one with no removable neck and one with a lacquer finish. I've missed playing it tremendously, especially the Yanagisawa.

Also, another HUGE benefit to buying a Yanagisawa (directly from Japan if possible) at this time is this:

The exchange rate between the American dollar and the Japanese yen is extremely favorable at the moment. When I bought the silver soprano, the exchange rate was about ¥100=$1 and as of today the exchange rate is sitting at ¥149=$1 which makes it a fantastic time to buy anything directly from Japan if possible. The prices of the saxes from Japan are indeed higher than they were in 2016, but the current exchange rate overrides this fact that still makes them a bargain when buying them in American dollars.

I never tried a Yamaha soprano sax, so I can't speak about them. But in general during all the years I taught band here in Texas, I always found the Yamaha instruments to be quality ones but they always seemed to be a tiny bit more fragile to me compared to a Selmer or a Yanagisawa. The metal keys on a Yamaha seemed more prone to bending and getting out of adjustment.

Just my 2¢ worth as a sax player.