That explanation is incomplete though. And it seems langel missed that this idea of passive and active was contained in my answer.
The thing about the term control, the way it is often used about TT equipment is that it's meaning is dependent on context.....
.....So, for me, a max rubber with good grip for spinning the ball allows me more control.
What langel caught was that different kinds of rubbers for different purposes are credited with control on different kinds of shots.
A long pips rubber may allow chop blocker to put the ball back with little technique or effort. So, for chop blocking LP make that easier. But if you try to brush loop with LP, you will not be likely to control the shot.
But I indicated more than this. Yes, I did not explain because this stuff has been explained on the forums many times.
And what I said indicated more than passive and active or different kinds of equipment.
Often people say a thinner rubber has more control, meaning it is easier to control.
This would be accurate for a player who does not spin the ball as much and makes more drive shots. For someone who spins everything, the spin gives you control and the thicker rubber enables one to spin more.
Different techniques cause people to feel different amounts of control with the same equipment or rubber. Driving is not passive. But the contact is more direct and a rubber with which it is easier to spin the ball, is often harder to use for direct contact.
A flaw in the distinction between passive and active is that, I can make spin contact when I block or I can make direct contact when I block. A very spinny rubber with max sponge that is harder to control in blocking with flat contact will still be easier to control on blocks with spin contact.
A last detail here and an important one: We use the term control as a function of language. But if anyone is thinking about it, we all do know that the rubber does not have control or lack of control. The person, his technique, his play skills are where the control or lack of control is. The rubber is simply easier to use for certain things or not as easy to use for those certain things. But the player controls the equipment.
So, unfortunately, the term control is generally used to indicate how easy the specified rubber is to control while performing a few techniques out of many. And which techniques the term refers to, is never stated and can change depending on who is using the term "control."
So, with Offensive equipment like modern tensor rubbers or the non-ESN equivalents (Tenergy, FastArc, Airoc etc), the term often refers to whether it is easier to hit flatter with it rather than spin more with it. The more you use the valuable properties of those rubbers--the topsheet, the sponge, the ball sinking in while brushing, the distortion of the topsheet on deep brush contact, the rebound of the sponge and topsheet--to grab and spin the ball, the more the rubbers that are said to have less control, actually allow you to exercise more control via the spin. And the more you make direct contact and hit flatter, the more the rubbers that do not spin the ball as well, are easier to control.
So, if your technique is more spin oriented, you will derive more control from rubbers that spin the ball better. And if you use more direct impact, you will obtain more control with rubbers that are less reactive to incoming spin.
And so the most meaningful pieces of information presented so far are this:
The question is, "control" of what?
I find those ratings meaningless. A lot of the time it is just the inverse of speed.
And this:
Any kind of numbers a company says are solely a marketing device.
