Recently I bought a stringing machine which allows me now to play around with string tension. I have two racquets which I like which are a SOTX woven-8 and a racquet by a relatively unkown brand (675mm, mid-weight, carbon fibre-titanium mesh). The other day I strung the woven-8 at 25 X 27 with ashaway A-68ti. For me, I felt the tension was too high for me as I had trouble even clearing. The other racquet I strung to 24 X 26 with the same string and I feel this plays extremely well. Clearing is easy, smashes are sharp and powerful (for me at least) and control on drives and net shots is great. I have a hard time believing that 1lb can make so much difference. I would have to say that the racquets are the difference. Do different racquets have different optimal tensions for each player? Is it shaft stiffness that makes the difference?
You'll find that with a headlighter, faster racquet, you will be able to use higher tensions because you can swing the racquet faster which is key to generating power.
