I’m not crazy about Yamaha plastic recorders either, although I admire all the good manufacturers for their ability to provide VERY good instruments at so low a price. I was just making the point that if you wanted to see what the difference between MATERIALS could be between plastic recorders, the 2 Ecodear alto models would be a way.
I’ve been playing my Aulos 509B (“Symphony”) alto lately and cannot really imagine a much better plastic recorder. It is VERY easy to play – even the highest notes “speak” immediately, including problematic ones like high C#, D, F and even G. In this respect it is easier to play than the Bernolin, where it can be kind of hard to get some of the upper notes to play until you get used to it, and even then it can be kind of an adventure.
Sarah Jeffery reviewed a cheap plastic recorder vs a quality wooden recorder recently and found the same thing – the cheap one played the very highest notes more easily. I think that this is because there is no variation with plastic instruments and a good model is going to be just about perfect in all technical aspects, whereas a wooden one or a hand-made resin one like the Bernolin can have differences between samples and also is often adjusted to play certain registers better (a tradoff). For example, the Bernolin’s middle and lower register sound MUCH better than my 509B, and the lower notes (which can be hard on most plastic instruments) play MUCH more easily on the Bernolin. So it is definitely adjusted toward the low end. Plus, it does NOT sound like a “plastic” recorder.