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Did you like dbx Discs?
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Did you like dbx Discs?
Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver InterconnectsTags: None
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I have a few Nautilus superdiscs where I have both the standard and dbx versions (allman bros, Clapton) but I don't ever recall doing critical comparisons and I haven't listened to the dbx versions in decades.
PS. I still have a dbx II processor for my open reel tape deck but don't record with dbx any longer, it has a dbx disc decoder mode.Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver Interconnects
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Originally posted by JCOConnell View PostI have a few Nautilus superdiscs where I have both the standard and dbx versions (allman bros, Clapton) but I don't ever recall doing critical comparisons and I haven't listened to the dbx versions in decades.
PS. I still have a dbx II processor for my open reel tape deck but don't record with dbx any longer, it has a dbx disc decoder mode.
Our audio club president, Rene Jaeger (jaegeraudio.com) worked for dbx at the time, and demonstrated the system recently at one of our club meetings. Members said it sounded really good (I didn't make it unfortunately). True encode/decode systems can be very effective, unfortunately dbx disc never took off. Looks like Meridian's new encode/decode MQA technology might succeed now due to its software/hardware based design...Speakers/Amps: Genesis G2.2 Jr with Powered Servo-Sub Bass, Genesis GR1440 Mono Amps, 5,000 watts total power
Preamp: SMc Audio VRE-1C Preamp (fully balanced inputs and output)
Analog 1: VPI Signature 21 Belt-Drive Turntable w/ 10” 3D Printed Fatboy Gimbal Arm and Ortofon MC Windfeld Ti Phono Cartridge driving Lehmann Silver Cube Phono Preamp
Analog 2: VPI HW-40 Direct-Drive Turntable w/ 12” 3D Printed Fatboy Gimbal Arm and Ortofon MC Anna Diamond Phono Cartridge driving Genesis Gold Phono Preamp
Analog 3: VPI Avenger Reference Rim Drive Turntable w/ 12" 3D Printed Fatboy Gimbal Arm and Ortofon MC Verismo Phono Cartridge
Analog 4: Second 12" Fatboy arm on Avenger with Ortofon 2M Mono SE Cartridge
Analog 5: Studer A810 R2R tape w/ Bridge Console. Using built-in tape preamp
Digital: Lumin Network Player with Lumin NAS
Cables: Genesis Advanced Technologies/Absolute Fidelity Interface Interconnects, Speaker, Phono and Power
A/C Power: Extensive System Upgrades, Sub-panel w/hard-wired power cables, and IsoTek Super Titan Passive Power Conditioning for Amplifiers
Accessories: Custom Acrylic Equipment Stands, Klaudio Ultrasonic RCM
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I did a fair amount of encoding dbxII (the consumer version IIRC, dbx I was the pro version) onto cassette. When I got my Dragon, it had dolby C which was similar in intent to dbx II i.e. more agressive than dolby B. I also bought a fair number of dbx discs and there were even a few dbx II encoded R2R tapes from Barclay-Crocker (in addition to their standard dolby B encoded tapes). One advantage to dbx was that it did not require a test tone to set the level for decoding that dolby B required. I still have a dbx decoder that I used to rip the few dbx encoded R2R tapes I have.
They even made a 12v decoder only - to put in your car to play dbxII encoded cassettes, which I did. Of course, compressed music was usually better in a car, where the background noise level was so high.
As I remember, the major issue with dbx II was that the aggressiveness in compression/decompression would sometimes result in an audible pumping sound in the background. Of course there were only a small number of dbx II encoded discs. For classical M&K released maybe 10-20 of them. Don't think any of the big labels did any, at least in classical.
LarryAnalog- VPIClassic3-3DArm,Lyra Skala+MiyajimaZeroMono, 2xAmpex ATR-102,Otari MX5050B2,Merrill Trident Master Tape Pre,Herron VTPH-2A
Dig Rip-Pyramix,IzotopeRX3Adv,Mykerinos,PacMicroModel2
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Other-2x512Engineer/Marutani Symmetrical Power, AudioDiskVinylCleaner, Scott Rust Interconnects,
Music-2000R2Rtapes,50TBrips
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I had done the same thing with the dbx car units from Concord. I needed two units for ten speaker set I had installed in the Riveria. The compression allowed you to record at a higher signal level on the tape raising the noise floor. Couldn't use it the Fiat sports car I had as it was just to noisy and the volume had to set higher on the small speakers that would fit.
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I bet what really killed dbx disc was not that it didn't work, was that it came out just before the final solution, CD, came out.Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver Interconnects
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The only real issue with dbx encoded material was the breathing/ pumping that would happen. It led to the pricier two and three band decoder units to alleviate this problem.
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Youre confusing dbx's one way dynamic range expanders with the two way noise reduction system. The expanders with two and three bands were not decoders, they were expanders designed to work with normal unencoded source material.
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I think JC is right. I remember having the original dbx dynamic range expander then went to their more exotic 3bx three band unit that was supposed to reduce the pumping effect. Ah, the good old days.
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