All of these drums listed are good - it just depends what you want.
Starclassic? Agreed - awesome sounding kit. I've had one for 6 years and it always sounds good. A friend of mine has a low end Tama and, with the right tuning and micing, sounds awesome too.
Pearl Masters? Excellent kit. Big fat tone - solid drums that can last a lifetime. This was my first "real" kit - still have it, still love the power and projection.
Yamaha Recording Customs - Well, there is a reason they are so revered. Just have a great, dialed-in sign. Don't own a set but have recorded in several studios where it was the in-studio kit. Great rock kit - the type of kit that will always work.
DW Collectors - Again, a great kit. I managed to get a six-piece 90's one for $800. Had to check with police to see if it was stolen. It wasn't - best money I ever spent on drums.
All of these kits sound great. It's hard to say one dominates or kicks the snot out of the others. Sometimes you prefer one over the others for no other reason than a gut reaction. Sometimes it can be be because your ears need a change. Sometimes it's a different tuning. Sometimes it is the heads.
And, to be truthful, I have an old Premier APK that had some of the best sounding toms. It was hardly high-end, around $500 for a shell pack back in the day (1990 I believe). It just needed fresh heads - coated ambassadors always worked - and it worked.
As for maple or birch? What's the old saying? Maple for live, birch for the studio. While I don't believe that 100%, it has usually been true. Birch seems to have a EQ curve that sounds good in the studio while maple has the bigger projection and depth that work live. The Yamaha Recording Customs are birch and were "it" for so many recordings. Birch became sort of a runner-up to maple for a while but it seems to have regained favor.
Bottom line, 90% of the kits out there will sound good if you give them a chance (tuning, head selection, proper micing and, of course, room).
