here is the comparison i had a friend make to me just the other day. soundforge is very narrow, yet very deep. Meaning- easy to grab ahold of quickly, but there's a lot there if you want to dive in. Wavelab is very wide and just as deep. There's a lot to learn at first, but juts as much depth. I don't know if that makes a lot of sense, but with all the options in wavelab, all the visualizations, all the functions it has always felt more powerful.