It is been hard to buy a bad regulator for a long time thanks to the required compliance with EU standards and most also test against the more demanding US Navy requirements.
There is one advantage for new divers using regulators with unbalanced first and second stages (that still meet EU standards), besides being less expensive. High performance balanced regulators allow you to breathe a tank down to virtually empty with almost no warning. You will sense progressively increased breathing resistance on an unbalanced between 300 and 500 PSI. The difference can be 20-30 breaths allowing time to safely surface or find your buddy's octo versus 1-2 breaths.
I suggest that you rent a unbalanced regulator and intentionally breath a tank down to empty in a swimming pool shallow enough to stand up in. They would probably let you do it in a dive shop but a pool is better. First, it is a good experience to know what it feels like. Second it will either reinforce that spending more money is better overall or not. Getting distracted, loosing sight of your buddy, or forgetting your training shouldn't be a death sentence.
ANY regulator on the market today has safe breathing resistance down to 165'/40M...