does anyone have experience in regards to the difference in 1) sound and 2) playability of O’Riordan high D/C ?
Difference with regards to what?
i wish i did…
if you don’t allready know, i’m sorry, mr.o’riordan is taking no more order right now.here’s some sound samples anyway http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/index.htm
yeah…what he said. What are we comparing the O’Riordan to?
Rhetorical question. Let’s try and structure the answer.
The difference between an O’Riordan is that:
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they sound exactly the same
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especially the C
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except its playability is playwoodable in D
Q.E.D.
Perhaps we’re comparing the D with the C. Well, I pass since I haven’t played either.
Please send me a O’Riordan D/C set, and I promise to get the necessary experience with it to compare it to anything. 
I have the privilege of owning a C & D whistle by Mr. O’Riordan with a whistle and a fife/flute head, and the only difference is in pitch. They both play with a minimum if air and sound as sweet as one could possibly hope for, (no bias here ).
My teacher has a C/D set and both keys sound the same, except for the whole step difference of course.
I disagree – at least on my Travellers, the C is a bit sweeter, more mellow, and more responsive than the D. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s there. And I know I’m not the only one to think this – Loretto Reid swears by the Traveller C, but doesn’t like the Traveller D’s responsiveness, prefering to play a Generation body with an O’Riordan head as her main D whistle.
On my whistles, the other difference is that I’ve worn the black off of everyplace my fingers touch the D tube, while the C tube is pristine. It doesn’t get played nearly as often as it deserves to be.