The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been using D'Addario NXYL strings on my U-12. I am going to assume the plain strings are very similar in most sets of strings and the wound strings are where the difference can vary in brightness, stainless vs nickel, winding technique, hex core vs round core, etc.

Thoughts?

The stainless steel wrap gives a brighter sound and longer life, but they're rougher and give you more bar noise. They're just not as smooth and "soft" as a nickel or monel wrapping.

I don't hear any difference between hex core and round core strings.

They at least imply that the NYXL process is on all the strings...I'd suggest that if bending is their claim to fame, the plain strings would be what they are talking about...
"At two whole steps higher, NYXL strings are still at less than 75% of their breaking point. In the same setting, standard strings are at 90% of their breaking point."

https://www.daddario.com/nyxl/