Sound Decoders

[John]

I'm curious what sound decoders you guys are most fond of .. please consider the requirements of price, features, ease of use. If you choose to comment, please keep it civil, and remember everyone has opinions that may not match yours.

[mu26aeh]

I'm guessing this is across all scales ?

ESU is what I have in a few of my engines (N scale ) , so it's what I'm familiar with.  I have seen/heard others and they just don't meet up with ESU.  I've also experienced them in HO and O scale and they just seem that much harder to match in the bigger scales.

[peteski]

I voted "other" because I use ZIMO, ESU, and QSI (and 2 out of those 3 were not even listed).  I would have liked to have this poll being multiple choice (if it had a wider range of brands).

The poll does seem to be about N scale because for example TCS also makes sound decoders, and QSI only makes larger decoders which I can barely shoehorn in N scale tenders.

MRC has bad reputation, but I heard that they have improved. Digitrax to me is not even in the running. They have not yet really tried hard enough to embrace sound other than very basic and poorly configurable sound features.

Sound also seems to be a vary subjective thing - what sound ok to somebody might sound really crappy to another person. Also, some people are happy with just "good enough" and going for the low priced offerings.

[John]

I voted "other" because I use ZIMO, ESU, and QSI (and 2 out of those 3 were not even listed).  I would have liked to have this poll being multiple choice (if it had a wider range of brands).

fixed .. feel free to change your vote

[peteski]

fixed .. feel free to change your vote

Thanks - I did.  But I still think that for me a multiple choice would best reflect my opinion. 

[AKNscale]

In N, certainly ESU for me. I've had experience with 4 of these. MRC and Digitrax, to me, are way behind the curve. Tsunami are ok, but I've found ESU easier to work with, fully customizable(I don't remember Tsunamis being as fully customizable, correct me if I'm wrong please), and I'm quite fond of ESU's library. Especially with sound, you get what you pay for...

As of right now I'm replacing the capacitors on 4 Digitrax sound decoders to try and eliminate the dubbed, "Digitrax Stall" for our show starting Friday. They've been problematic since installed 2 years ago...

[jdcolombo]

I use ESU exclusively.  In the past, I tried Soundtraxx Tsunami, and Zimo.  The new Tsunami 2 is a fine decoder, but I think ESU's sound files are better - they are specific recordings of specific prime movers/engines and capture the real thing in a way that no one else does, IMHO.  I also like the fact that ESU's decoders are completely programmable - if they upgrade a sound file (as they have many times in the past), you just download the new version to your decoder, and off you go.  Not possible with Soundtraxx.

Right now, ESU hits the sweet spot with their technical sophistication, sound quality, programmability and customer support.  There is really nothing out there that competes overall.  Zimo may be a little technically better, but their US prototype sound files are lacking and they don't have the support infrastructure ESU does.  Soundtraxx is excellent, and I really like their built-in equalizer, but you cannot upgrade/change sound files, and their sound files don't cover the broad range in diesels that ESU's does, and don't cover specific locomotive models.  Digitrax uses programmable sound files, but lacks a comprehensive library of those, and seems to be relying mostly on end users to do decent sound files.  TCS's WOW! doesn't come in an N scale version; neither does QSI. 

If you want the best, right now that's ESU.  Next year, who knows?  This is a very fast-changing field.

John C.

[lyled1117]

I'm with Peteski in his assessment of some of the decoder lines available. I can't comment on all of them, just what I have access to. I've been installing decoders for over twenty years professionally and otherwise so I have had the ability to accumulate some knowledge of them. For myself, ESU is my first choice and I use them predominantly, Soundtraxx 2nd. While I have had access to TCS', I haven't used them enough to have a strong opinion yet. A coworker swears by them FWIW.

Lyle

[Chris333]

Where can you buy ESU products? Their site says they only sell direct, but there are no prices on their site.

[RBrodzinsky]

Where can you buy ESU products? Their site says they only sell direct, but there are no prices on their site.

Streamlined Backshop (sbs4dcc.com), Litchfield Station, etc. Even MBK

[reinhardtjh]

Where can you buy ESU products? Their site says they only sell direct, but there are no prices on their site.

Also Yankee Dabbler on Ebay.  Or email Rob at DCCTrain Dot Com in Cincinnati.  They do mail order. That's where I used to get almost all my decoders when I lived there. @iccn1000  Tell him John R send ya.

[Jbub]

Yankee does have a regular site also.

yankeedabbler.com

[peteski]

Where can you buy ESU products? Their site says they only sell direct, but there are no prices on their site.

That is confusing.  Like others said, many online vendors sell ESU products.

[RBrodzinsky]

Actually, it very clearly states they do not sell directly to the end customer . The yellow highlighting is on the web site

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[Chris333]

Guess I was going by this: