I really don’t like the loop end or the sound of the E string.It’s personal preference, or maybe taste, I know. But it’s difficult to put it on and the sound is just not right for my violin.

Best strings I’ve ever had. Have a warm tone.

This set is so good! The sound is really warm. Especially the golden e string it’s perfect match for sensitive finger tip. It might be easier to break but definitely worth.

**An update 4/20: The USPS finally delivered the strings five days later. It's a very happy day:).I rarely write reviews but felt I had to make an exception in this case and share my experience with EAZS-Market.If you are interested in a review about Obligato - please scroll down.EAZS-Market Customer ServiceWhile ordering violin strings may not seem high on most people's list these days, playing the violin gives me immense comfort and pleasure, especially at times like these.My Warchal A string gave up after over a year and started to unravel around the D area. I had a great experience with Obligato with the D string and decided to place an order for an entire set to arrive ASAP via EAZS-market. They were shipped the very same day and I was looking forward to receiving them.   A few days later the strings' shipping status was changed to "delivered" by the USPS but, to my dismay, the strings did not arrive. I waited a few days and still no show. I filed a claim with the USPS and contacted the seller, EASZ-market, to see what could be done.  The seller did everything they were supposed to do and it was certainly not their fault that the USPS misplaced the order, which was not cheap. To my surprise and delight, the seller immediately agreed to refund me in full and absorb this loss entirely. To me, such customer service is rare and I felt an obligation to highlight their exceptional handling of this order. Also important to note that the entire conversation with the seller took over the weekend and the seller was exceptionally responsive.  I will reorder the strings and if the original strings ever arrive I will of course repay the seller. Obligato Violin StringsI have a modern violin that was made in 2012 and modeled after Guarneri Del Gesu. It is very sonorous and if left to its own devices, tends to be more brilliant than I would have liked to. I tried Evah Pirazzi gold, which were nice but were not as long lasting and also Warchal Amber, which were great (especially the E that does not whistle). Eventually, my D string (Warchal) gave up and I got an Obligato. It has a deeper and darker sound in comparison and seems to be built to last. With all strings I went to the default of medium gauge, but may reconsider and experiment with this choice in the future. The sound, while dark, is still very clear and has considerable timber, which I love.

I’ve used Dominants for years but I’m drawn to darker tones and my violin tends to be a bit brighter so I decided to try these. I have a fifty year old German violin and these strings sound amazing on it. I’ve never had it resonate so well and I’ve never had such clarity and power on the G string. The Dominant G string always sounded weak and muddy to me. My only complaint is that my pack of strings came and the E string was missing which is a major inconvenience and for this amount of money I expect to not worry about things like that.

The product is good and sounds amazing on my violin, but a warning to other costumers: if you are planning to buy this product with free shipping, it takes a month to arrive. I have brought this product twice with free shipping and both took a month or longer to arrive. After all it is coming from CA. Other than that beautiful quality sound.

These have such a good, rich tone. My taste leans toward darker sounds, especially the low-tension quality of gut strings and baroque tuning, and these strings really bring out the best in my 1860's French violin. Sometimes I tune them down a half-step just to enjoy all the colors that come out in the D and A string. They are pretty stable and they stabilize quickly after I change my strings. The gold E string is particularly nice and it hardly ever whistles when I'm doing double or triple stops.

This is my first time trying this specific line of Pirastro strings, and I love them. I've always been generally pleased with Pirastro, but had found the Tonicas I was using before fell short of my expectations. The Obligatos, however, have really brought a new life into my violin. While I play mostly Irish and Scottish traditional music, I also enjoy playing music from the late Renaissance and Baroque eras, and these strings well suit the qualities of both traditional folk and these musical eras.These strings are described by others as having a "darker" quality -- which had appealed to me upon reading. But I had a bit of trouble imagining what exactly that "dark" quality would sound like -- especially as sound is so subjective. I have to agree that I can see how this "dark" qualification would come about -- but it's not because the strings sound ominous or leaden, or fail to be able to convey complex nuances of sound. Rather, I think this descriptor is the result of the rich tone these strings produce, generating a sound that is reminiscent of the deep, ambient tone gut strings produce and the brooding and momentous quality of Baroque.The strings are lower tension -- which suits my vintage 1906 violin well. I had often noticed in the past, with other strings, that I loved the sound my instrument would produce if I tuned my strings down a half-step. The sound vibrations seemed to resonate better with my instrument then -- and I also know that lower tension strings tend to be better for vintage plectrum instruments as well, like my 1920s Weymann mandolute. So perhaps the same is true for older violin and other vintage members of the bowed instrument family.To get back to parsing this "dark" tonal quality -- perhaps it's because I have always been deeply partial to the sound produced by gut strings and Baroque compositional patterns, but this "darkness" in the Obligatos is more like an ambient warmth. Here is how I might try to describe the image and feeling that stirred in me upon hearing the sound of these strings: The sound is like a warm, copper-hued vintage sound of the sort one might imagine hearing in an ambient, stone-walled room illuminated by the amber warmth of a quietly crackling hearth and the flickering of candles reflecting off a lovely burnished copper collection of sound. It is a sound that is both richly warm with gut string-like qualities, and sweetly saturnine -- that quality of feeling when something feels joyous melancholy and brooding.I decided to try pairing these new strings with Pirastro's Obligato rosin, out of curiosity and to experiment with a new rosin, and I have been pleasantly surprised. I had read several differing opinions about how rosin type affects sound, with some more dubious and others describing how there are scientific aspects of rosin production that can affect a string's ability to vibrate, based on material, etc. This is my first new rosin in probably 15 years -- and it's been a positive pairing so far. Perhaps there is something to Pirastro's assertions that certain rosins work better with certain strings. The Obligato rosin is an amber rosin with very low dust, but I've noticed that matched with the Obligato strings, my bow seems to be smoother at the frog where it would formerly "grunt" or "crack" a little, and there is a subtle but noticeable "bite" that my bow achieves on the strings -- as if it adheres well without being overburdened or "sticking" too much. Double-stops seem to benefit from this subtle difference as well.Perhaps this is due to the fact that my old rosin might have been "expired" -- who knew that rosin might well have a shelf life? But the improvement in sound and bowing is tantalizing enough that I will try this pairing again -- or a similar one when I next have to replace my strings. I will probably have to get Obligatos again, even though I want to explore more strings, simply because they seem so well suited to my instrument and I have been nothing but delighted by the experience so far.