@Carbontunes
I just replied to a related thread on the classical section. I have the exact same background as you when I started looking into carbon fiber. I was deep enough into classical guitar to know I was committed, but still so so very young in my guitar journey (still am).
My humble opinion is that carbon fiber doesn't provide a good acoustic nylon instrument. With pickups and an amp, sure. Just acoustically? No, they are quiet. That doesn't mean they can't be great be rugged travel/practice instruments. It just means you can't take it into a concert hall and do a recital without mic'ing up.
Knowing what I know now, I think I'd probably not have purchased my X20 nylon. I love it for its ruggedness, but it's too quiet. And if I plug in with it...well, my Godin Grand Concert Multiac Duet Ambience has a much better plugged in tone (to my ears anyway), so if I want to plug in, I use my Godin. Would I return my X20 now that I have it though (f I could)? Nope. Nah. It gets all of my attention during the summer and winter (the bad humidity seasons), and it's worthwhile from a practice standpoint.
If you're more concerned with having a rugged practice instrument on which to grow with, keep your Journey. Take it EVERYWHERE, and ALWAYS leave it out of its case. But if you're concerned about getting the best tone you can afford, go hunting for a wood one. It may take a while, but sooner or later a reasonably priced instrument will show up within a 100 mile radius that you can put your hands on, and it'll feel and sound magical.
I saw the Yamaha SLG200N recommended earlier in the thread. I have a distaste for it. I own one, the W (wide) version, so I'm not speaking from nowhere. It has a distasteful amount of low-end. You have to turn the bass down on it's internal controls to zero, and on top of that, put a 100Hz low cut filter to get rid of a huge amount of BOOM. After which it has a lot of high frequency hiss that you also have to filter out too, which dulls the tone. - Now some folks no longer hear the higher frequencies, so that hiss isn't noticeable for many, but it's unfortunately obnoxiously loud for me. But...I still keep it around...because...it's so dagnammit convenient. Since it doesn't have a top, it's very climate resistant too.
If I were in your shoes, I'd hunt for a wood guitar in the $400-$800 price point. If you're patient, you'll find one that really resonates, and feels really comfortable for a price you can afford. My 2 cents anyway.
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