The Sabian HHX China 18" is a higher end china cymbal for use in your drum kit. I wouldn't say that china cymbals are exactly essential cymbals to have in your drum kit like crash, ride, and hi hats are, but it's another color to consider having. In my experience, which is somewhat limited when it comes to drum gear since I'm not primarily a drummer, this has been one of the best china cymbals I've ever used. The drummer that I grew up playing with had a nice Paiste china cymbal, but this one blows it out of the water. First off, it's made extremely well and this is highly evident when you feel it or get a good look at it. This definitely shows in the sound quality as it's a full sounding china cymbal with the perfect amount of crash to it. The 18" size seems to be the perfect size for a china cymbal in general, though admittedly I haven't tried too many china cymbals at other sizes. The setting I was recording it in was in the context of a huge drum set with a ton of other cymbals. The drummer wasn't hitting this china cymbal all the time, but it definitely crept in there enough where it was easy to get a good idea of what the cymbal sounded like on record. The Sabian HHX China 18" is going to be okay for genres of all varieties, but probably best in rock and harder varieties of the genre at that. The Sabian HHX China 18" is far from the least expensive china cymbal you can get, as it's actually going to cost a pretty good amount for a cymbal like this. It's really only worth it if you're a professional or semi-professional who already has a top of the line kit and more traditional cymbals to match...