Anyway, I'm actually pleasantly surprised with these Cobalts and would say that they perform as advertised. They are definitely sounding brighter than anything else I've used after 5 days. I was hesitant to buy Ernie Balls at first because my experience with regular Ernie Balls has been that they go on sounding so tinny, metallic and clangy that I can barely even hear the fundamental note/frequency under all the tin, and then they go completely dead and flat sounding within a couple days. I don't experience this with DRs or D'addario strings...or the EB Cobalts, suprisingly.
First off, when I strung them up, the Cobalts barely needed any stretching and settled in almost immediately. There was almost no change in pitch when I went through my rigorous string stretching ritual which I didn't even think is possible, lol. But I did immediately notice they felt a little rougher. These strings didn't go on sounding super tinny and piercing like regular EB's but after 5 days they are still bright and clear though even a little strident and buzzy at times. However, they aren't dead like regular slinkies would be by now and brighter than D'addario strings would be in my experience. The difference is most noticeable when I play clean- it sounds very BOLD. Think Metallica "One" clean
The tone is definitely "metallic". I would say these are somewhat analogous to Phosphor Bronze acoustics in comparison with 80/20 bronze in that the Cobalts, like the phosphors, seem to have more in the way of upper harmonics as well as a hump in the low-mids.
These feel a little rougher than nickels and have a duller, grayish color. Tension feels pretty much the same if not the tiniest bit stiffer.
In a nutshell, I would say without a doubt they are brighter and retain their brightness longer than other strings, as advertised. Especially regular Slinkies. After 5 days and a few hours of playing they have mellowed slightly and are still even a tad too bright for me actually, but if they mellow out the tiniest bit in the next few days, I'll probably switch to them for the foreseeable future. They don't seem like they are going to sound like anything remotely close to "dull" for a long time. For lack of the suppleness of tone in say, pure nickel-wrapped strings on a round core, these Cobalts definitely have brightness and punch in spades. I think a lot of metal players will like them or people who's sweat corrode strings quickly. They are noticeably different than nickel-wrapped strings and perform as advertised in that they are bright, clear and do seem to retain their brightness longer than other strings. I would say they are different enough to be a game changer for some players
