StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 791

Head to head

Head Sonic Pro 17 vs Polyfibre TCS 16L

Sonic Pro 17 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Sonic Pro 17 is 22 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Head

Sonic Pro 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Polyfibre

TCS 16L

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16532nd pct
16735th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5594th pct
6298th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8413th pct
792nd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.927th pct
3.824th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.3422nd pct
0.37711th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08739th pct
0.09861st 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 Sonic Pro 17 at 52 lb

String TCS 16L at 50.5 lb 22.9 kg

Coming from TCS 16L at 52 lb

String Sonic Pro 17 at 53.3 lb 24.2 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.

Sonic Pro 17 mains / TCS 16L crosses

Stiffness33rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss96th pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential25th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite2nd pct · 1 measured
String friction45th pct · 1 measured

TCS 16L mains / Sonic Pro 17 crosses

Stiffness34th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss97th pct · 1 measured
Energy return5th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential25th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite8th pct · 1 measured
String friction57th 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.

Sonic Pro 17

~12 hours of play

TCS 16L

~11 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Head Sonic Pro 17 Polyester17$8.2516555843.90.3420.087
Polyfibre TCS 16L Polyester16Lfind16762793.80.3770.098

Add a third string Sonic Pro 17 in full TCS 16L in full