The specs... First, the Mirage Soprano is a heavy horn...heavier than the Yamaha, Yanigasawa and WWBW-brand sopranoes I've played. Not a biggie, but your right thumb will notice. The neck is a removable variety, which I found handy simply to get the mpc on there far enough without bending the horn all up fighting with it.
Why is it that all sopranoes seem to have longer-than-necessary necks, leaving us to shove the mouthpiece on almost all the way in???It has pan-handle style keys for the high D/D#/F keys, as you'd expect on alto/tenor/bari/etc. This is the one big plus over the previously mentioned Yani--it uses the single post-style of those keys, and frankly, it just doesn't work, since you're used to a different kind of motion. The Mirage's mechanicals are in the solid Intermediate territory. Its not crude like some student models, but neither is it smooth and fast like a pro horn. Key layout is quite reasonable and comfortable. I think the octave key travel is longer than it needs to be, but its still in reasonable territory. This horn has a high-F# key, but my mpc/reed setup really doesn't facilitate popping that puppy out. Your milage may vary.
Playing it... This horn plays well. It speaks out, has great tone, and at the outset intonation seems in the ballpark. After checking notes against a Korg CA-20 tuner, this thing is uncanny. Its the first soprano I've played that is consistently "green-light" in-tune. Yes, the upper register plays a little sharper than the lower, but in my experience all saxes do this, leaving it to the performer to fight the instinct to tight-lip the mouthpiece.
Woodwind players have a long history of biting down when attacking upper-register notes. From the very first notes played up there, we quickly discover that "biting harder" on the mouthpiece makes those notes come out easier. True enough, but the intonation suffers badly, and later in life, we all have to un-learn this early lesson.After playing and woodshedding for about an hour, I took a 2nd check of intonation on various notes to see how things were looking. WOW! Not only had the intonation not gotten out of whack, but in fact, it was better and tighter than ever.
Summing it up... The cats still flee in disgust, but what I'm taking out of this is that the Mirage soprano sax is a great bargain and a decent horn for the money--new or used. Don't be afraid of the brand name--Mirage is building great horns for a very reasonable price.
