no question! The stock strings are great!
Should I decide to stay with rounds i'd play them.
Well the real question for me is: rounds, or something else?
edit: The suprisingly affordable spector 5 string set is 35" right?
Good question. The answer depends on what sound you are looking for (IMHO).
First, the majority of what I play requires a pick, although I can play fingerstyle (which is more like a guitar finger style because of my background).
I don't like the sound of stainless strings. I prefer nickel. I also do NOT like the feel of stainless. And they are more likely to damage frets and fingerboards in time.
I'm not a big fan of string noise... so in the past I've used half-wounds/ground-wounds, because they are less prone to finger noise. But they also sound a little flatter/duller. Not as bad as flats... but they loose the brighter tones of the rounds.
I converted my NS-2A over to a fretless. And although the neck has been refinished with boat epoxy (which I say hasn't colored the sound as many suggest), I opted for flat-wounds because I wanted that pure fretless sound... thuddy, no noise as you slide your fingers and they don't damage the neck.
I've tried a bunch of different strings and honestly I prefer the Spector strings. They are as good as they come. I just replaced a set of SIT nickels on my Euro4LX and went back to the Spector strings.
I say hone in on what you are looking for in regards of tone. Try a few different types of strings.
And a quick analogy, I'm an expert marksman... l used to do tactical competitions and compete against former Marines and FBI... And I NEVER, EVER, EVER use cheap ammo in my guns. Even for practice shooting. I always use competition match-grade rounds. More expensive but worth it. I've gone through 15,000 rounds and replaced two barrels from wear in my Italian-Made Beretta Model 96 .40S&W. If I used crap rounds and didn't do things like clean my gun after each use... it would have died years ago.
Bass strings are no different.
Don't put cheap strings on your bass. You get what you pay for. Hex core, brand-name strings is the way to go. You'll see that the quality of the string does affect the tone.
And clean your strings. Take care of them. I have the original factory strings on my NS-2JA-R and they are still like new.