I seriously doubt from an audience perspective in any give club, where the drums are not immediately visible to you, without microphones on the drums in a completely acoustical environment, or even miked up for that matter, as far as the drums are concerned, amid the blend of the music, the guitars, amps, piano, and whatnot....... that you can tell if the drums are steam bent maple, birch 3 ply, 5 ply, 9 ply, maple ply, bubinga, ironwood, or acousticon cardboard, whether they are manufactured by Craviotto, DW, Ayotte Custom, Remo or Pulse, when they are in the hands of an experienced drummer with tuning skills. You just are not going to know, you cannot tell, and neither will anyone else, despite all the flipping coolaid thats currently being served by all the manufacturers marketing hypes.
Going to stores and playing with drums is the standard advice you get with this question, or a recommendation of someones personal preferences. And a lot of times thats a very subjective opinion. I recommend you spend the money on Ayotte Custom drums. (I have a set of Ayotte Custom Drums). Or, I recommend Brand X, because I have brand X and they are birch and the best for X music. It really doesnt matter, there just isnt really a "best." You can play jazz on a Joey snare drum. And you can Punk on a 1978 engraved Ludwig Black Beauty.
Going to stores is also very subjective. You have a limited scope of drums available, you are at the mercy of the tuning skills of the guy on the floor, and with whomever has been banging away at them.
In the midrange line and professional lines of drums, as well as anything high end...... all things are pretty much equal. The quality is there, the hardware is there, its just a matter of deciding whose features you like best. Decide what you like. What hardware you like, what color you like. What grain pattern of wood you want to spend hours and hours looking at. What you want and like is far more important and objective to you than anyone elses subjective opinion or marketing coolaid.
There was a recent article in a drum magazine where different reps from manufacturers talked about this stuff. And those guys dont drink their own coolaid. Why should any of us?