Thanks both. Good to know that.
Does that mean in future events only the fastest 40+ balls will be used to keep consistency?
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A couple of details. Nittaku and D40+ are made of very similar material (versions of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS), but not identical because they are a slightly different color. The D40+ is just a tad bit heavier than the Nittaku (2.73 gram vs. 2.69 grams) and has a slightly higher pitched sound. That means the Nittaku is ever so slightly faster than the D40+. So if you really concentrate and switch from one ball to the other randomly you can over time teach yourself to determine the difference between them, but even though they are not precisely identical, it is very easy to switch from one to the other. Those are the two balls I use the most, and I find that switching to anything else now requires some adjustment that takes quite awhile. I have always liked seamless balls, but I like these much more. You tend to like what you are used to, but I liked the Nittaku more the first time I tried it.
Lot of other companies are going to be selling re-branded versions of the D40+ in the future, so probably these will become the dominant balls. I think the CP40+ from TSP is one of those.
Seamless has never been adapted in any pro tournaments that I know of. I never had a roundness issue with them but I have not bought any recently (I bought a bunch when they first came out) and the quality control may have changed. Also, some people say that if they got exposed to heat during shipping that can make them go out of round (I am skeptical of that explanation since I kept a bunch in the trunk of my car in Houston Texas in the summer and it did not make them go out of round). The Yinhe seamless I occasionally see here are quite good.
I hope and suspect that the cellulose acetate balls will disappear. They offer no advantages at all, since they are not round, bounce poorly, are fragile, and are expensive. I don't have any inside information on this, though.
I am curious what Butterfly will do. Will they also sell a rebranded D40+? Before they come out with their G40+, the Butterfly plastic ball was a re-branded cellulose acetate ball, but probably the one made by Double Fish. As with all cellulose acetate balls, it is terrible. I mention Butterfly because sometimes their balls have been used in major events. I very much dislike the G40+ personally and I am glad that it has not really caught on anywhere. I don't like the surface texture (too smooth) and the thing has less arc in the air and the sound is ridiculous. Their practice ball version (Easy Ball) is actually better than their competition ball. Will they in time give up on their German-made balls?