The sound is supposed to be greatly improved over the earlier generation FX sabers, and the LEDs are brighter too. Check out some of the prop forums for a better review than I can give you. They seem to love the new ones, and those guys are picky as hell.
And since you mentioned him, there's apparently a movement in the prop community to boycott Parks Sabers. He apparently kept an original piece he had borrowed for replication for far longer than he had agreed to, then returned it with parts missing and others replaced with his own reproduction components and denied the whole thing. Again, check the RPF for details.