Sorry, I neglected to answer the OP's question in my original post. Since my Plisson synthetic, I've haven't used a badger brush and I have no intention of going back.
I own a Mühle 23mm silvertip fibre, a Plisson 21mm, an Omega 23mm and a Simpsons Chubby 2 26mm. All of them synthies which perform excellently. As soft as they may be, they're just a bit too sleek for me. I prefer silvertips with their soft tips and their slightly coarser feel. My Semogue 24mm 2 band is my favorite brush as it has plenty of backbone and lathers as well as any synthie and it spreads the lather as evenly as any synthie. I do use both badger and synthie but buying more synthies seems pointless to me because there's virtually no difference in the type of synthie hair. That's why I just forked out over $200 for a Chubby 3....
I have 4 JE&Co Synthetic brushes and they perform as well if not better than any brush I have ever had. They all splay out perfectly and whip up a lather that requires less soap than I have ever had to use with a Silvertip. I'm hooked especially with the cost of about $12 ea. My Bicrops shave bowl loves them.
The quality of synthetic knots have improved a lot over the past 40 to 50 years. Back then they literally looked and felt like fishing line; now they're extremely nice. I recently purchased a couple knots from APShave Co on Etsy ... they are synthetic 2 banded badger knot .... honestly it's as close as I've ever felt to a silver badger knot and looks fantastic.
