Head to head

Gamma Live Wire XP 16 vs Head RIP PerfectPower 16

Live Wire XP 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Live Wire XP 16 is 7 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Live Wire XP 16

Nylon/Zyex · 16 ga

Head

RIP PerfectPower 16

Nylon/Polyolefin · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15720th pct
15720th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2534th pct
2329th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9493rd pct
9490th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.65th pct
2.33rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.38415th pct
0.3698th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.15094th pct
0.15895th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Live Wire XP 16 at 52 lb

String RIP PerfectPower 16 at 53.6 lb 24.3 kg

Coming from RIP PerfectPower 16 at 52 lb

String Live Wire XP 16 at 50.7 lb 23.0 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Live Wire XP 16 mains / RIP PerfectPower 16 crosses

Stiffness20th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss32nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return92nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite13th pct · 1 measured
String friction94th pct · 1 measured

RIP PerfectPower 16 mains / Live Wire XP 16 crosses

Stiffness20th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss31st pct · 1 measured
Energy return91st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite8th pct · 1 measured
String friction94th pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Live Wire XP 16

~30 hours of play

RIP PerfectPower 16

~31 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Live Wire XP 16 Nylon/Zyex16$12.5915725942.60.3840.150
Head RIP PerfectPower 16 Nylon/Polyolefin16find15723942.30.3690.158

Add a third string Live Wire XP 16 in full RIP PerfectPower 16 in full