After reading dozens of reviews on these Preludes, I am becoming convinced that most people here on Amazon trying them out haven't yet heard what decent strings are supposed to sound like.  I generally keep Overture Ultras on my violin which are are fairly close in price to these (love the sound of Helicores, but they're really loud if you're just a living-room player and are double the price).  Tried the Preludes for the first time a month ago as a set came with my daughter's new 1/2 sized violin.  I tried to be open minded, gave them over a week to stretch in properly....and they still sounded awful.  Tinny quality, very little resonance, and just sounded lousy compared to my daughter's 1/4 violin.  Finally gave up and switched out the Preludes with a set of Overture Ultras with the wound E string.  Night and day difference.  Now I am fully aware that different strings can sound differently on different instruments, but I was seriously underwhelmed with the Preludes.