Thomann AC Double Ocarina Regular

I bought the Stein Double AC as an upgrade to the cheaper plastic Thomann/Focalink Plastic AC (which also is a great instrument, by the way).

The first thought upon unboxing was that it was a beautiful and precious piece of craftsmanship. It has a good, solid weight and a nice straw fired (and therefore unique) glazed texture. There is a hole so that it can be worn around your neck, but a neck cord is not included. It might be a good idea to invest in one however as clay ocarinas are a lot more sensitive to drop accidents than a plastic ocarina.

There is a slight burnt smell to it, which I happen to like. If you are sensitive to smells, you might not like it but the smell will decrease somewhat over time.

It is designed to be comfortable to hold, and the glazed texture makes it easy to slide the fingers across subholes or across different chamber holes.

It uses a rising breath pressure, meaning that more air is needed as you go up the scale. Acute bending (looking down) while playing the higher notes is not necessary at all.

Unlike plastic ocarinas, this ocarina does not have condensation issues meaning that the clay will do a good job at absorbing spit inside the mouth piece, so that the ocarina will still play well even if it hasn't been cleaned recently.

An argument for getting this ocarina for me was the second chamber. In hindsight, it might have been more of a psychological thing than an actual problem, since I most frequently only use one chamber. It might feel nice knowing that you can go higher if you want to, but for me personally the higher notes sound a bit squeaky and I would rather have a two chamber range that is transposed one octave down.

I like the instrument and would recommend it to anyone looking to buy an ocarina with a high degree of craftsmanship. If a single chambered version, otherwise identical, was available at a lower price I might have opted for that if I was to buy an ocarina again, but it still feels like it was worth the cost.

This ocarina has a great, clear and beautiful sound. I've played the ocarina for about two years now. I have a little over 10 ocarinas in my collection, 12-holes and multi-chambers alike, and this is my absolute favourite when it comes to the way it sounds.
It's also rather quiet, and requires low breath pressure, as far as ocarinas go, which I find perfect for practice.

What I like a little less about it is the number and position of the holes on the second chamber. I have rather long fingers, and it's a little difficult for me to hold this ocarina while playing the second chamber without having to crook them. I also find it easy to only partially cover one hole or another by mistake on this chamber, because of my fingers' positioning (especially my ring finger, which has to cover two holes, on this model).
On a related note, I find that the highest D, which has a dedicated hole on the rightmost side of the second chamber, is extremely hard to hit. I don't know if that's due to a lack of technique (though it probably is) but nevertheless, there's a tremendous gap between being able to play the rest of the notes correctly, and that one. Just because of a tiny change in breath pressure, it will squeak and turn into any random other note. In fact the D might be the hardest note to hit there. No joke. That hole is anything but stable. For that reason I'm not using it, and I'd rather it not be there at all because all it does, for me at least, is getting in the way.
I don't have any of these issues with my triple ocarina from another brand (but then again that one doesn't sound as good, so I still prefer this Stein/Focalink here).

On a more positive note, there's something I really like about that second chamber, and it's the alternate finger positionings. There are usually at least two ways to play the same note on that chamber, all in tune, which allows for quickly and easily alternating between notes that would otherwise be hard to reach.

Notwithstanding the little shortcomings, which I'm sure can be made up for with enough technique, this is an incredibly good ocarina, definitely worth its price. Highly recommended. It's my absolute favourite to date.

This ocarina has very clear notes across its entire range. On cheaper ocarinas higher notes can sound a little breathy but on this one they really hold true.
The instrument feels beautiful to hold and is a joy to play. My only criticism is to get the lower notes you need a very gentle breath. So gentle in fact that as of now I have not been able to get the lowest A. This makes the breath slope a little difficult to work with. I can understand why Stein has a forte version as I am sure it fixes this problem.
Overall the clarity of tone and craftsmanship make it a great value instrument and I would certainly recommend it to any intermediate player moving from their starter/student ocarina who wants to step up to the next level. You'll just need to work on the very delicate breath slope at the lower end.