I've been playing guitar since 1973, managed a guitar store from '77 - '88, and that whole time I didn't own an electric guitar, only basses and an acoustic guitar. Here's my advice.
A. Play a bunch of them. Don't pay too much attention to "playability" on a acoustic guitar. The way an acoustic works is that the strings pull the face of the guitar and make it pump air. So, higher string tension leads to both more volume and a bigger tone. Now most people buying guitars are seriously inexperienced so most acoustic guitars are shipped with strings that are a lot lighter than makes the guitar sound best.
B. Ignore name. At the low end it's meaningless because they're all built in the same factories and so it's just who is importing them. They'll vary a lot within that. At the high end the individual chunks of wood vary a lot too and you'll find as much difference between two Martin D-28s as you will between a Martin D-28 and a Guild D-50 (both all solid dreadnaughts with rosewood back and sides). So, play a lot of guitars in all price ranges by different makers.
C. Have an idea of what you want it to sound like before you get into a store and get bewildered. For example, my ideals of an acoustic guitar sound include several different sounds. Stephen Stills and Neil Young are the cornerstones to me of what an acoustic guitar should sound like. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Tell Me Why" are the first two sounds I have in my head. A distant second is Pete Townshend's sound on "Pinball Wizard". I also despise, absolutely hate and despise the "Taylor/Fishman" acoustic guitar sound that's so prevalent in country music records these days- Taylor Swift's acoustic guitar sound is like rubber bands on cardboard to me. I avoid anything that sounds like that. But before you go playing stuff, have a sound in your head that you're looking for.
I say play them in all price ranges because you need to learn what happens as you spend more money. Some of it's cosmetics (inlays, gold hardware, prettier wood which is seldom better sounding wood), etc. You also need to come to grips with whether you like big bodies like a dreadnaught, jumbos (like the big rounded Gibsons that Elvis, Emmylou Harris, etc. use), Orchestra (smaller bodies like the one Clapton used for much of his "Unplugged" album/DVD), etc. Then there's the different species. Most will have spruce tops of different types, but the choice between rosewood, mahogany, or maple for the back and sides shapes the sound of the instrument significantly.
Don't pay much attention to cosmetic details. Instead look at things like how tidy the glue joints are (especially the kerfing- the segmented wood strips that glue the back to the sides), how carefully the braces are shaped and installed, the neck angle, the fret work, and the nut.
Unless you're going to be playing the guitar on stage, don't get one with a pickup. Spend that $100 or so that a decent pickup/pre-amp (and don't even think of one without a preamp!!) is going to add to the cost on good wood. And if you ARE going to play it on stage, then pretty much ignore the acoustic sound- all those lovely resonances that make a great sounding acoustic cause huge problems with amplifying it. So, if you think you simply must have one with a pickup, try them all out through the same electronics/speakers. And the best choice for that is a small PA. Second choice would be a keyboard amp or a dedicated acoustic guitar amp (and avoid any on-board effects because you want to hear the GUITAR, not the toys). Do NOT even think of trying to judge one by playing it through a regular electric guitar amp.
Then, when you've narrowed it down, play the exact instrument you're wanting to buy. There simply isn't "another one just like it" in acoustic guitars. So the ultimate choice is to play the specific chunk of wood that you're going to buy.
Having said all that, my favorites are still Guilds which are criminally under-valued and have been poorly marketed their entire existence (through at least four owners before Fender). The necks are the most stable in the business, they sound great, and are wonderful guitars. I like Martins too, but keep getting drawn to Guilds over most Martins. However, a great D-28 is still the premier dreadnaught acoustic guitar, it's just that most Martins aren'g great, only very very very good.
I like Larivee and Collings for other higher - end stuff I've played, but I don't know the details of their lines. I've never in 30 year played a Taylor that spoke to me. Nice guitars, but seemingly uniformly bland. Sorta like MacDonalds, it's very much the same, but nothing that makes me go "WOW!!" ever. Don't be deceived by the easy playability of them, but LISTEN to the sound.
For lower priced stuff, I really really like what Walden and Seagull are doing. Interesting designs, nice choices of woods, and very very well-built consistently. I used to love Yamahas (my first real guitar was an FG-160 in 1973, and I sold a ton of its replacement, the FG-335). The ones I've seen recently were still very well made and seemed to be consistent, but they're not the "value for price" king they were 20 years ago- not that they've slipped, but that others have caught up).
Plan on spending a good bit of time on the search, it'll pay off in huge dividends over the long haul.
John
