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Loki RXTON 9 new sponge.
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Very quick delivery with Alibaba. Even got the plane flight data with my order in it. The NEO the only package sealed. Normal R9 have no plastic, r7 got one but not sealed it seems. I will boost and glue the r9 neo for now. Not enough booster for the rest. And currently I ran out of FH rubber, and my current one is an old not linear h3.
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inside the package the rubber is seal you can't see it if you don't open (for the R9 orange sponge)
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For comparison between R9, H3 and H8. Note, that this h3 is from pre-2021 recipe change (super tacky) and boosted. This h3, probably the sponge and top sheet flex are not linear. It gives an idea of the similarities visually between R9 and h3 tho. Especially considering there is a plastic protective sheet on the sponge of R9 neo like H3 Neo, with the glue layer on the sponge.
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Inside the cardboard there is sealed plastic for orange sponge.
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Okay -- finally had a chance to try the boosted R9 but before I talk about the rubbers, I should talk a bit more about the blade I mounted it to.
On reflection, changing the blade had far more of a beneficial effect in bringing out the best in these rubbers, than the boosting did.
Turns out mounting these particular runners on my Dante was simply not an ideal paring.
The Dante is a really lovely semi-bouncy blade that has great control and good speed in the short game, but also finds an extra gear or three when hitting harder during open play.
I went with this blade as I thought that the new R9 OS (being unboosted) could use a bit of extra blade effect to make it easier to access its higher gears.
Turns out however this was probably a mistake, as on reflection, the blade just felt like what you get when you usually team hard chinese sponge with a bouncy hinoki-like blade -- i.e.: I'm the whole effect was just kinda weird.
The blade and rubber's individual impact responses interfered with each other and cancelled each other out *just enough* to be really annoying.... but also not quite out of synch nough to make the problem easy to identify. On a different blade however, it was a whole different story.
The blade I chose to substitute with the Dante was a Chuditch -- another outer composite attacking blade of my own design.
The Dante's extra top gears and speed boost make it a bit more of a counter hitting blade, whereas the Chuditch by comparison is a looper's delight. It's speed / impact response is extremely linear and controlled regardless of the ball's impact speed, and it flexes a fair bit more than your average looping blade by design, which gives it a lot of spin potential.
(Best description I can offer of the playing feel of a Chuditch is to imagine it as a very slightly slower Hugo HAL Original, but with a bit more flex and a softer more wood like playing feel).
The Chuditch was a FAR better teaming for the R9 OS across the board as it actually allowed me to access speed reserves in the unboosted red R9 that I just couldn't feel or find before. (Both rubbers felt much better on the Chuditch really, but for the red R9 the difference was chalk and cheese.... it felt -- quite frankly -- bloody delightful. 🥰🥰)
There's a strong two speed effect with these new R9s that the R9N didn't have. They are rather slow whdn playing over the table, and surprisingly fast when driving/looping. But it' not like that traditional H3 two-speed feeling however, where the slower speeds over the table are created by the top sheet's high tack levels.
With the R9 OS, that two speed feeling seemed driven by the sponge itself: it's slow and unresponsive over the table, but comes alive when hitting hard. This tells me the OS sponge probably has two different density zones or layers to it, created by welding two different densities of sponge together. This in turn creates two different COR scores for the rubber (ie: by design, its a dead sponge during gentle impacts, and a far more bouncy one during hard impacts).
In order to find, feel and exploit this property of the rubbers, I first needed to use a far more linear blade. As the Dante is designed to behave the exact same way as the R9's sponge layer, they were trying to do the same job, at the same time, but to different degrees and in different ways. The end result was just a tangled mess of conflicting touch messaging. The chuditch however allowed the rubber to manage its own rebound control unhindered, which made the rubber far more manageable and responsive.
If you're going to try out an R9 OS, I strongly recommend using a more linear blade than an overly bouncy one. These new two speed sponges you find in rubbers like these new R9s, and the Xiom Jeckyl and Hide before it really team best with more linear rubbers. These rubbers have distinct gears of their own and need a more linear blade beneath them to work properly.
As for my rubber boosting of the black R9, it worked as expected, and to the degree I wanted: it was a bit softer and faster without being mushy, so I'm calling that a win. Spin and control was the same (excellent on both) while speed improved by between about 5-9%, depending on whether the rubber was in bottom gear or top gear at the time.).
I can see the appeal of these rubbers, and can now appreciate what Loki were trying to acchieve with this new sponge... and with the right blade, it works beautifully. The two speed gearbox on the OS version takes some getting used to, but this is a minor quibble really.
As for boosting these rubbers.... well while it improved the black rubber and made it faster, I won't be boosting these rubbers again, as for me and my game, it's not necessary. All the light boasting did was give the black R9 a fully played-in feeling. It *didnt* make the rubber feel much like a R9N, which was what I was hoping for....
...THAT job was (surprisigly) more than ably provided by the stock Red 37.5 rubber itself.
Putting the red R9 on my FH, and the boosted black one on my BH, felt far better than vice versa. Once fitted to my Chuditch, the unboosted, factory stock red rubber felt sufficiently similar to the R9N for me to be willing to call it an acceptable substitute for playing feel, and a slight improvement for performance.
Really enjoyed using both these new R9s today, and will happily buy the 37.5 Red again and use it on my FH.
I'll still miss the R9N going forwards, but I'll also miss it a lot less in future, given the brilliant performance of its replacements.
On reflection, changing the blade had far more of a beneficial effect in bringing out the best in these rubbers, than the boosting did.
Turns out mounting these particular runners on my Dante was simply not an ideal paring.
The Dante is a really lovely semi-bouncy blade that has great control and good speed in the short game, but also finds an extra gear or three when hitting harder during open play.
I went with this blade as I thought that the new R9 OS (being unboosted) could use a bit of extra blade effect to make it easier to access its higher gears.
Turns out however this was probably a mistake, as on reflection, the blade just felt like what you get when you usually team hard chinese sponge with a bouncy hinoki-like blade -- i.e.: I'm the whole effect was just kinda weird.
The blade and rubber's individual impact responses interfered with each other and cancelled each other out *just enough* to be really annoying.... but also not quite out of synch nough to make the problem easy to identify. On a different blade however, it was a whole different story.
The blade I chose to substitute with the Dante was a Chuditch -- another outer composite attacking blade of my own design.
The Dante's extra top gears and speed boost make it a bit more of a counter hitting blade, whereas the Chuditch by comparison is a looper's delight. It's speed / impact response is extremely linear and controlled regardless of the ball's impact speed, and it flexes a fair bit more than your average looping blade by design, which gives it a lot of spin potential.
(Best description I can offer of the playing feel of a Chuditch is to imagine it as a very slightly slower Hugo HAL Original, but with a bit more flex and a softer more wood like playing feel).
The Chuditch was a FAR better teaming for the R9 OS across the board as it actually allowed me to access speed reserves in the unboosted red R9 that I just couldn't feel or find before. (Both rubbers felt much better on the Chuditch really, but for the red R9 the difference was chalk and cheese.... it felt -- quite frankly -- bloody delightful. 🥰🥰)
There's a strong two speed effect with these new R9s that the R9N didn't have. They are rather slow whdn playing over the table, and surprisingly fast when driving/looping. But it' not like that traditional H3 two-speed feeling however, where the slower speeds over the table are created by the top sheet's high tack levels.
With the R9 OS, that two speed feeling seemed driven by the sponge itself: it's slow and unresponsive over the table, but comes alive when hitting hard. This tells me the OS sponge probably has two different density zones or layers to it, created by welding two different densities of sponge together. This in turn creates two different COR scores for the rubber (ie: by design, its a dead sponge during gentle impacts, and a far more bouncy one during hard impacts).
In order to find, feel and exploit this property of the rubbers, I first needed to use a far more linear blade. As the Dante is designed to behave the exact same way as the R9's sponge layer, they were trying to do the same job, at the same time, but to different degrees and in different ways. The end result was just a tangled mess of conflicting touch messaging. The chuditch however allowed the rubber to manage its own rebound control unhindered, which made the rubber far more manageable and responsive.
If you're going to try out an R9 OS, I strongly recommend using a more linear blade than an overly bouncy one. These new two speed sponges you find in rubbers like these new R9s, and the Xiom Jeckyl and Hide before it really team best with more linear rubbers. These rubbers have distinct gears of their own and need a more linear blade beneath them to work properly.
As for my rubber boosting of the black R9, it worked as expected, and to the degree I wanted: it was a bit softer and faster without being mushy, so I'm calling that a win. Spin and control was the same (excellent on both) while speed improved by between about 5-9%, depending on whether the rubber was in bottom gear or top gear at the time.).
I can see the appeal of these rubbers, and can now appreciate what Loki were trying to acchieve with this new sponge... and with the right blade, it works beautifully. The two speed gearbox on the OS version takes some getting used to, but this is a minor quibble really.
As for boosting these rubbers.... well while it improved the black rubber and made it faster, I won't be boosting these rubbers again, as for me and my game, it's not necessary. All the light boasting did was give the black R9 a fully played-in feeling. It *didnt* make the rubber feel much like a R9N, which was what I was hoping for....
...THAT job was (surprisigly) more than ably provided by the stock Red 37.5 rubber itself.
Putting the red R9 on my FH, and the boosted black one on my BH, felt far better than vice versa. Once fitted to my Chuditch, the unboosted, factory stock red rubber felt sufficiently similar to the R9N for me to be willing to call it an acceptable substitute for playing feel, and a slight improvement for performance.
Really enjoyed using both these new R9s today, and will happily buy the 37.5 Red again and use it on my FH.
I'll still miss the R9N going forwards, but I'll also miss it a lot less in future, given the brilliant performance of its replacements.
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I'm sure EPAR is higher at 1m/s than 10m/s; you can't really make it opposite. What you can do is make it flatter with pimple design and some material changes. Strain-amplitude dependency makes it so high deflection always has more hysteresis, but it's not always a set amount and the geometry of elastomers does play a part IIRC although I think it's more of a materials thing.
H3 has quite a sharp EPAR curve compared to traditional tensors, and they might have found a way in the R9 to emulate a tensor curve shape but moved the whole curve down.
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R9N is old R9 National or R9NEO ?
R9 OS you tried are R9 OS 40 deg/39 deg with the 37.5 alongside ? I am a bit confused on which one you tried.
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Very nice info, im waiting patiently for my new R9 OS (I have 2 39 black and 2 37.5 red) to arrive and test unboosted and boosted on B2X + W81 ADC.
@Wakkibatty based on your own unboosted and boosted experience, would you say they are like hurricanes where booster is absolutely a must for the rubber to play as it was designed, or not needed as much and you could break it in by playing. For me it makes a big difference as not everybody wants to go through the hassle of boosting (hence why battle 2 is so popular)
Thanks!
@Wakkibatty based on your own unboosted and boosted experience, would you say they are like hurricanes where booster is absolutely a must for the rubber to play as it was designed, or not needed as much and you could break it in by playing. For me it makes a big difference as not everybody wants to go through the hassle of boosting (hence why battle 2 is so popular)
Thanks!
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What battle 2 would you recommend for an unboosted option ? Battle 2 prov blue sponge 39 ? For forehand to pair with inner w81 sadc, thanksVery nice info, im waiting patiently for my new R9 OS (I have 2 39 black and 2 37.5 red) to arrive and test unboosted and boosted on B2X + W81 ADC.
@Wakkibatty based on your own unboosted and boosted experience, would you say they are like hurricanes where booster is absolutely a must for the rubber to play as it was designed, or not needed as much and you could break it in by playing. For me it makes a big difference as not everybody wants to go through the hassle of boosting (hence why battle 2 is so popular)
Thanks!
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From the 3 versions Im testing now, Im enjoying the blue sponge prov and the normal orange sponge, the neo im not so sure yet.
Blue sponge for more spin and dwell and power but also more demanding due to throw, orange for ease of use and safety, both unboosted good playable in my opinion, blue sponge could use a bit though
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Sorry about any confusion -- my bad. 😁
To clarify:
R9N = Rxton 9 National Original (originally factory boosted, now discontinued)
The two rubbers I tried were:
-- Rxton 9 OS Red in 37.5 degrees (unboosted) and
-- Rxton 9 OS Black in 39.0 degrees (two thin layers of Pinyi Quick Dry Booster)
Hope this helps 🙂
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Well, I tried the R9 Neo 40, boosted with 2 (thin ? I finished the rest of bottle of Haifu Nat White) layers.
One thing for sure, we are in the H3 feeling territory there.
First thing I noticed, was the dynamism of the booster. Some shot are easier than my previous rubber. Also the racket was too light. Lots of slice, wrong timing, too early. Racket being lighter, with same force my racket does further quicker which made me make mistakes. Struggled to adapt, but I will add weight on the racket I think. I need to weight the racket.
Back to the rubber itself. Spinny, easy to open up when you are in the right timing (which I struggled with haha). I was struggling a bit with the dynamism with blocking at first. The arc is weird. Like it goes up, then suddenly the ball drop dead on the table. Me and the opponent thought the ball was out all the time. Feels like pips block lol. But maybe I am in the wrong there, I unintentionally was doing a bit of chop block to keep the ball on the table. Rubber is tacky, need to adapt a bit on server/receive but nothing more or less than what you can expect from a Chinese rubber. Good there.
Finally, despite the added dynamism. I definitely feel what @Haito means by the lack of support. Despite the blue sponge 40deg, I feel the rubber bottoming out on heavy impact. After a level of force, more force is not linked to more speed. I pretty much hit the top speed, quite easily tbh. Here is probably because I am able to go through the sponge a lot. I think for me, I should go for higher hardness on the FH if blue sponge. Maybe not everyone would reach the upper limit.
Yet to try the orange sponge. Perhaps it has better ceiling, which would make a difference to H3's family.
To me, first impression is good, but I feel like the top speed is not that great for the hardness. At similar hardness, a H3 top speed is higher.
One thing for sure, we are in the H3 feeling territory there.
First thing I noticed, was the dynamism of the booster. Some shot are easier than my previous rubber. Also the racket was too light. Lots of slice, wrong timing, too early. Racket being lighter, with same force my racket does further quicker which made me make mistakes. Struggled to adapt, but I will add weight on the racket I think. I need to weight the racket.
Back to the rubber itself. Spinny, easy to open up when you are in the right timing (which I struggled with haha). I was struggling a bit with the dynamism with blocking at first. The arc is weird. Like it goes up, then suddenly the ball drop dead on the table. Me and the opponent thought the ball was out all the time. Feels like pips block lol. But maybe I am in the wrong there, I unintentionally was doing a bit of chop block to keep the ball on the table. Rubber is tacky, need to adapt a bit on server/receive but nothing more or less than what you can expect from a Chinese rubber. Good there.
Finally, despite the added dynamism. I definitely feel what @Haito means by the lack of support. Despite the blue sponge 40deg, I feel the rubber bottoming out on heavy impact. After a level of force, more force is not linked to more speed. I pretty much hit the top speed, quite easily tbh. Here is probably because I am able to go through the sponge a lot. I think for me, I should go for higher hardness on the FH if blue sponge. Maybe not everyone would reach the upper limit.
Yet to try the orange sponge. Perhaps it has better ceiling, which would make a difference to H3's family.
To me, first impression is good, but I feel like the top speed is not that great for the hardness. At similar hardness, a H3 top speed is higher.
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I only played with the OS. I do not yet own the Neo blue. I kind of want to order one, but the original sheet just does not want to die.
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No, I know you played with OS. But the description you gave can be applied to the NEO too for me. This lack of support. Like it absorb my body energy instead of deploying it. After a certain amount of force. Before this threshold it does the job well.
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just glued the R9 OS 39 and 37.5 on the W81 adc, total weight 191g, unboosted both for the first test, 39 was 53.5g and 37.5 was 48.5
I will later on do one nat yellow booster layer and compare, as well as paste them on the B2X for equal test results, give me one month or so
I will later on do one nat yellow booster layer and compare, as well as paste them on the B2X for equal test results, give me one month or so
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Very nice info, im waiting patiently for my new R9 OS (I have 2 39 black and 2 37.5 red) to arrive and test unboosted and boosted on B2X + W81 ADC.
@Wakkibatty based on your own unboosted and boosted experience, would you say they are like hurricanes where booster is absolutely a must for the rubber to play as it was designed, or not needed as much and you could break it in by playing. For me it makes a big difference as not everybody wants to go through the hassle of boosting (hence why battle 2 is so popular)
Thanks!
I think you can get away with not boosting if you choose the softer sponge version, up to about 40 degrees 🤔🤔 With the harder rubbers however (40.5 degrees - 42 degrees) boosting is virtually a must, unless you hit the ball like a sledgehammer.
The spin and playing feel of the OS versions reminds me a lot more of Nittaku's H3 Neo rather than the traditional chinese DHS H3.
Admittedly I havent played with the H3N in a good long while, but from memory the softer H3Ns are the same -- you can get away with not boosting them, so long as you choose the softer version, use a proper kinetic chain during shots, and don't mind a really firm and unyielding playing feel to the sponge.
On reflection, I found with the R9 OS red in 37.5 degrees, I had a lot of trouble engaging the sponge on my BH side. I use a fair bit of wrist with my bh drive & loop through years of habit, but can still manage a more orthodox BH loop I I remember to stiffen up my wrist a bit. But no matter how hard I tried, engaging the unboosted sponge on BH was genuinely difficult for me.
On my FH however (and on my linear chuditch blade) engaging the sponge was quite manageable and the spin and speed on the ball was massive. On the FH side the 37.5mm red R9 was a genuine beast once you engaged the sponge... but attempting that on my BH side risked me blowing out my elbow.
This OS version has a very different feel to the previous sponge -- like I said in my earlier post, to my hand at least this rubber has a real two-speed feeling going on. When pushing and serving you can feel the ball dig into the top sheet and the upper surface of the sponge, but the ball itself still moves slowly as the rubber just feels a bit dead. When you're opening up or looping / driving on your forehand however, your strokes are genuinely quick, despite me only driving the ball slightly further into the sponge.
If you want to use the R9 OS on your blade hor its massive spin levels (but dont want to boost), then I advise you use the 37.5, 38 or 39 degree sponge on your FH, and use something else entirely on your BH.
They're all genuinely great rubbers, but they need to be thought of as a H3N substitute. Only the Red version really suited my current game and conditioning down to the ground, and didn't require me to boost at all.
===============
CORRECTION:
===============
Sorry folks, need to make one small amendment to my earlier post(s) as I got the sponge hardness options a bit mixed up.
According to Loki's June 2026 product brochure, the Black R9 OS only comes in 39 / 40 / 40.5 degree sponge.
There are no 38, 41 or 42 degree sponge variants of either colour (as I mistakenly said earlier).
The Red R9 OS meanwhile only comes in 37.5 degree sponge.... and like I said earlier, it's an absolute banger! That part I got absolutely right 😁
Apologies for the mix up.
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