Lots of companies are willing sell you 200proof ethanol to perform your extractions. Some will swear it’s better. I picked up some because it was cheaper than the organic 190 I usually use. I made sure it was manufactured in an appropriate manner (last of the water pulled with sieves rather than eg benzene).
I did not split a pile of biomass and run side-by-side extractions.
I did get great results, but I put in high end flowers, and ran at -80C, so I was expecting great results. after recovery, it was at 190 proof (no surprise). Second extraction seemed on par with first, but I made no attempt to actually quantify things like extraction efficiency, color, terpene profile etc.
While both extractions were the same strain, they were different runs, and differences in input would likely have confounded attempts to quantify 200 vs 190…all I can really conclude is that it was not obviously inferior to using 190 proof.
@Photon_noir has stated a couple of times that the azeotrope is almost perfect for our particular extraction (if performed at the correct temp).
My take is that if you don’t have your material & solvent cold enough to lock up the majority of your water solubles, 200 proof will pick them up, along with some water, and be at 190 (or less) moments after it hits your material. It loves water!!