Head to head

Head Sonic Pro Edge 16 vs Tecnifibre Black Code 18

Sonic Pro Edge 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Black Code 18 is 61 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Head

Sonic Pro Edge 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Tecnifibre

Black Code 18

Polyester · 18 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19563rd pct
20370th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3965th pct
4168th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8737th pct
8741st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.851st pct
4.645th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.3636th pct
0.47467th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.07615th pct
0.10468th 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 Edge 16 at 52 lb

String Black Code 18 at 48.1 lb 21.8 kg

Coming from Black Code 18 at 52 lb

String Sonic Pro Edge 16 at 56.2 lb 25.5 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 Edge 16 mains / Black Code 18 crosses

Stiffness66th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss66th pct · 1 measured
Energy return39th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential49th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite12th pct · 1 measured
String friction30th pct · 1 measured

Black Code 18 mains / Sonic Pro Edge 16 crosses

Stiffness68th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss67th pct · 1 measured
Energy return40th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite60th pct · 1 measured
String friction59th 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 Edge 16

~20 hours of play

Black Code 18

~20 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Head Sonic Pro Edge 16 Polyester16find19539874.80.3630.076
Tecnifibre Black Code 18 Polyester18$11.9620341874.60.4740.104

Add a third string Sonic Pro Edge 16 in full Black Code 18 in full