My newest favorite string is Thomastik's Infeld Blue. I've been a fan of Obligato's for a long time, but I recently restrung my great-grandpa's violin with the Blue and I'm loving it. It took a few weeks of breaking the strings in, but the tone quality and overall sound I get is so much better than what I was getting with the Obligato's.
My other favorite go-to strings are Dominants. They seem to be universally liked and well received on almost any instrument.The Thomastik IB100 Infeld Blue Violin Set offers the best for me. They are strong, durable strings, but also 'soft' precision made and give a luxurious tone to prove the maker knows exactly what they are doing based on generations of experience. The only thing I wonder about is the coloring of the packaging, you would think that blue would indicate a deeper tone while red would signify at brighter tone... but the packaging aside (I'm a graphic artist) the strings are what matters, just be sure to read so you get exactly what you want. The 'blue' are supposed to be the brighter tone, but I am attracted to a warmer tone also and am pleased to say that the blue delivers both 'presence' of the 'warmer tone' as well as the brilliance and clarity of a brighter string. Compared to the red, it is my opinion after playing both, the blue is the most 'lifelike' violin sound. The blue strings even make my inexpensive China-made violin come to life and sound like a much more expensive violin.
