Can you tell the difference between a $200 and a $200,000 guitar?

Note also that acoustic guitars really respond to being played frequently. Richard Hoover (Santa Cruz guitars) tells a story about a Stradavarius in Cremona that gets played a little every day to keep its tone "alive." Hoover also likes mahogany a lot, and will tell you you really have to play these guitars often to make 'em sing. There are gizmos that will vibrate a guitar for you to break it in which means maybe you don't have to play it at all...give your friends a break from your crappy guitar playing. I use my 3 fave acoustics on a rotating basis as they all sound great and utterly different from each other and I feel bad if one doesn't get played enough.

As some have said, a great player will make an average guitar sound good, but it's like asking Mario Andretti to drive a Yugo in a race.  Even a pair of $5000 guitars from the same luthier may sound different, as each piece of wood is unique.  Well aged and often played guitars also change in timbre over time, and generally for the better.  A well recorded classical or steel string guitar is a joy to listen to on a fine system.  

Inexpensive guitars built with plywood top, back and sides sound OK, but they won’t improve over time.  Solid wood guitars open up and get louder with playing time.  Vibration is causing some changes in solid wood.  Solid top is the most important since it produces 80% of sound.  Top in classical guitars is likely Cedar or Spruce (two materials with the highest strength to weight ratio), while back and sides in expensive classical guitars are most often solid Rosewood.  Even material for the fretboard or the neck affects the sound.  Harder fretboards made with Ebony make sound crispier (higher harmonics) than one made with Rosewood.  As for the “action”, they mentioned in the video, it is the gap between 12th fret and the bottom of the string.  In classical guitar it is almost always 4mm on the bass and 3mm on the treble end.  Reducing it makes playing easier, but it kills the sound.  Some classical guitarists set it even higher at 5mm.  Truss Rod to adjust relief in this $200 guitar is very unusual.  Pretty much all acoustic guitars have it, but it is very rare in classical guitars.  

This always kills me: 

Trying to discern audio quality or lack thereof …. Over a YouTube clip on an iPhone. 

This always kills me:

Listeners who because they can’t hear nuances that others can, or are so predisposed to believing it is not possible to do so that they then assume it must all be bs.  They then feel the need to rain on the parade. Talk about being a party pooper! 😊