I swapped my stabilized wood Atrium Closed for Redwood Burl variant and couldnt be happier with that move.
Like Renexx said the stabilized resin can look very different from what you see on the promotional pics, not by any ill intend, but simply by studio light being different from what you will see in the daylight or in low light conditions. My stabilized looked red on the promo pics and even on some pics I made myself - in person it was more of a purple with a slight hint of red.
Apart of that you should keep in mind that burly wood with resin or epoxy could lead to a very different finish that you might expect. While its not a craftsmanship issue but something that comes with burly wood that is "repaired" by resin, personally I enjoy smooth finish more. A stabilized unit can still be perfectly smooth its just not guranteed.
Another thing are the details. The stabilized units I saw can be incredibly detailed, with layers over layers of details creating a 3d depth effect. Sometimes you discover new things weeks later, its pretty mesmerizing sometimes. And its another thing that cant be seen on the pictures. But what cant be seen on the pictures are again things that you might dislike like for me some small golden sparkles in the wood. Yes it fully comes down to the personal taste.
Last thing is that natural wood feels rather different haptically than resin which can feel more plastically, especially in combination with colours like purple or blue.
I still think that Zachs stabilized units look great and some are absolutely stunning, but for me personally, if I go for a stabilized unit again, I would prefer to see it in person first. If you have the chance to buy your stabilized on some audio show it might be the right call and well worth the wait.
Here some of my potato pics of redwood burl next to stabilized unit I owned. The redwood unit was slightly custom since I wanted a very particular look and finish consitancy with it and Zach outdid himself on this one I think
Dont have a good cam atm and the light is terrible. Depending on the lighting the unit can look bit darker red or more flame orange in direct light. There is zero brown touch to it like with some other redwood burl we seen here, its more red than anything else, its probably more vibrant red than my redheart Caldera.
While I am at it, few words about my perception of the sound differences between hard stabilized wood Atrium Closed and the soft redwood burl.
Hard wood sounds a bit punchier, the bass is slightly more focused and maybe a bit better controlled, less laid back and bit more aggressive. Softer redwood burl sounds more romantic and laidback, the bass is more enveloping and for the lack of better world there is a bit more magic to it. The bass is not bloomy by any means, but there can be more of it in some recordings than you might want compared to hard wood. It still very punchy, the sub bass of Atrium closed is still to die for, but if you are into aggressive electronic music or lets say industrial, hard wood might provide you slightly more energy. Owning Caldera, the softwood AC works much better for me personally, there is simply more contrast to fast and snappy planar sound. All in all you cant go wrong with either, the differences are very subtle, I would advice to go with the wood you like more
