C&S O&C is in my top 3 for soaps. As mentioned above, in my experience for whatever reason, samples of soaps very often do not bring out the best measure of a soap. Also, I would note that if you find the performance of Valobra very good but do not find the performance of C&S to measure up, the issue cannot be with the soap itself as it contains the same base.
As to price, it is expensive for a hard soap. However, being triple milled, it will last much longer than any artisan soft soap or cream, and on a per shave basis is much cheaper than any of these.