Some purchases are associated with hardware ("I don't want to buy a dongle just to demo a product"), and listening to samples necessarily leaves out some of the touch and feel and performance issues, e.g. There might be things you didn't notice in the demo like CPU usage that when used in a big project cause problems (although it would be smart to test this too, realistically, sometimes people don't) Can you really get analog sounding mixes in-the-box with plugins That’s what my buddy Steven Slate has been out to prove over the past few years with his line of analog modeling plugins. Sometimes you can't hear major differences and want to know what to look for Always check current regulations or seek secon. It makes sense to compare your notes with others All opinions or methods expressed in the video(s) are personal opinion only and for educational purposes only. That said, I see no problem with seeing what the consensus is within the audio community, especially for beginners (whether or not you are one). So, I agree with with /u/fuzeebear: you should try them both and see which you like better, there are definitely demos you can download.