By the way, when I bought my sm81 overheads I brought an excellent sound man with me. Then I played through various mics while he stood back and listened, then he made his recomendation which was better. At that time the sm81 was the hands down winner. He said that they were the best to pick up the whole kit at that time. I have mics for all my drums. But with the combination of the overheads and the sm57 on the snare other mics weren't needed in his opinion. If I need a lower sounding snare I just change the heads or snare choice, not the mics. That's why I have so many snare choices. I'm going to check out the i5 mic, but will keep my current choice for overheads. They do the job just fine.... Studios I have played in said those mics worked great. They prefered my mics over their current choices. Must be the old school in me. 

Diddle,

I think that answers my question.  If the tone difference didn't jump right out at you, then it must not be as pronounced as they claim.  At present, i'm well familiar with the quality of Shure, so I'd probably lean more toward that.  At least until i hear more about the Audix.

My experience mixing heavier music kinda suggests to me that there isn't going to be much room in the lower end of the frequency spectrum for snare drum anyway. If you want a lower sound tune it lower, then when whichever high frequencies bring out the snare get boosted, you'll be bringing up harmonics of a lower fundamental pitch. Thus the brain will do the rest of the work for you, and you'll still have some room down there for guitar/bass/kick. Plus a well defined snare drum.

I'd say the 57 is a good investment. Even when you've got 10 a 57 is a good investment (slight exaggeration). Whereas the i5 might be something you can pickup later. Like I said, don't fret too much about mic choices. Go out there and get some experience, because the musicians and the engineer matter A LOT more than the microphones/preamps/software/etc.

These days, most recording gear is of a pretty darn great quality to begin with. Don't start splitting hairs until you really need to. Just avoid Behringpoop

Behringer....Yeah. 

I've heard that from pretty much everybody too....

Depends on the song/mix/snare. Often times the characteristics you described for the 57 are exactly what I'm looking for and the i5 what I don't want.

/end defensive soundguy one-thing-doesn't-fit-all-rant

Glad you got the mic that suits your needs/desires however.