A comprehensive review of the Dr Neubauer Domination Speed, a new and faster version of the popular Domination rubber. In this review the rubber is compared to the popular Tenergy 05. Review is kindly provided by Matt Pimple from OOAK Forum.

 

From the Manufacturer:

DOMINATION SPEED: New built-in speed glue technology without any need for speed gluing

Our reversed rubber DOMINATION is now also available with a new type of sponge.

This special version DOMINATION SPEED provides outstanding dynamics for all attacking shots. There is no need for speed gluing as the rubber already offers all these properties:

• extremely high speed
• strong catapult
• a maximum of spin

With this reversed rubber you can play a modern and highly dynamic attacking game.

DOMINATION SPEED is available with the following thickness choice:

•    1.5 mm
•    1.8 mm
•    2.1 mm

DOMINATION SPEED: The new offensive rubber generation

Ratings:

• Speed: 100
• Control: 74
• Effect:   98

 

Review by Matt Pimple

(published with permission)

Dr. Neubauer Domination Speed (in comparison with BTY Tenergy 05)

Disclaimer: I received the rubber from Dr. Neubauer for testing

About the reviewer:

My USATT rating is around 1900. My strength is my forehand with which I score the majority of my points mainly through looping. I play close to the table with blocking and looping. I play with frictionless anti on backhand, mainly for returning serve and blocking topspin loops.

 

Setup:

Both Dr. Neubauer Domiantion Speed (NDS) as well as the Butterfly Tenergy 05 (T05) were played in black with 2.1mm sponge on the same Dr. Neubauer Hercules blade with Dr. Neubauer ABS anti in 1.2mm on backhand.

I did actually test the Domination Speed in 1.8mm a while ago and liked it but somehow forgot about it. So I was quite happy to receive it again in 2.1mm for a test. The NDS comes vacuum sealed and when you open the package there is slight chemical smell but a lot less than for example a Hurricane III Neo. It looks like a high quality rubber overall with a matt topsheet and a cream colored sponge, which I believe is the same as for the Goliath Speed, based on a previous test. The topsheet is very grippy but not tacky; you cannot pick up the ball with it.

So here are the result of my test:

 

Weight: T05 > NDS (heavy > light)

The NDS is a bit lighter than the T05 though I did not measure the exact weight

 

Speed: T05 > NDS (fast > slow)

The T05 is quite a bit faster than the NDS, though I believe it is still fast enough to play at the table. For a mid-distance game, the NDS might be a bit too slow or would have to be played on a much faster blade than in my test.

However, the NDS plays a lot more linear and less bouncy than the T05, so if you like very bouncy or catapulty Tensor rubber than the NDS is not the best choice.

 

Hardness: T05 > NDS (hard > soft)

Overall the NDS plays softer than the T05 but not quite as soft as the T05 fx. The NDS has a much softer topsheet than the T05 and the sponge is slightly softer than T05 (like 45 deg.) but harden than the fx sponge. Due to the soft topsheet the NDS plays very soft and controlled in the short game and on serving and receiving; I liked it here better than T05. When you engage the sponge on the NDS on stronger strokes it plays harder but still overall softer than T05. The sponge is not as dynamic and bouncy as the Tenergy sponge.

 

Control: NDS >> T05 (more > less)

The very high control with all strokes and techniques is the great plus of the NDS. I was able to execute all shots with ease from the beginning in particular blocking and looping. When I played against a chopper I was amazed at how easy it was to place my loops and move the defender around. It was also much easier to re-loop on chops of a long pips player where I usually struggle to loop more than twice with the T05 because of the heavy backspin. The NDS has more control than T05 in all shots and plays less demanding.

 

Spin: T05 > NDS (more > less)

Though the NDS is actually very good at the amount of Spin it produces, I can measure up to the T05 which is still the gold standard in this department. I did actually really like the spin I got on serves with the NDS which was almost as good as T05, however the T05 had more spin on looping. The NDS actually had very nice spin on pushes over the table and the spin on slow opening loops was very high too. Where the T05 separates itself from the NDS is on dynamic and fast loops.

The NDS was much less sensitive to incoming spin something which was always a problem for me with T05 in particular on blocking spinny loops.

 

Throw angle: T05 > NDS (higher > lower)

The NDS has more of a low to medium throw angle and much less of arc on topspin loops. The throw angle reminded me a little bit on modern Chinese rubbers like Hurricane III Neo. It was easier though to keep the ball low on serves compared to T05 and also blocks stayed lower.

 

Block/Smash: NDS > T05

The block against loops was one of the outstanding features of the NDS. The lower throw and less sensitivity combined with the good control made blocking very easy from the very beginning. Also smashing worked very well where I always found the T05 very demanding.

 

Conclusion:

The Dr. Neubauer Domination Speed is a nice offensive rubber with emphasis on control and good spin. I really like the combination of a very soft, grippy topsheet with a medium-hard sponge which gives it very nice control in the short game and spin on serves but also on loops though not as extreme as Tenergy. This is a high quality rubber for player who like to play an attacking game at the table and might prefer good control over very bouncy tensor rubbers. There are probably better rubber though for an aggressive counter looping game from mid-distance. The NDS could also be interesting for people who previously played Chinese rubbers and would like to play a more modern European rubber without moving to a very fast and bouncy ESN rubber. Additionally, defenders should take a look at this rubber too as it produces very good spin on chops.