Well I guess MRC finally got tired of losing all the DCC sound business to Soundtraxx, so they’ve scrapped there old lineup, and are comming out with an entirely new line of 16 bit sound decoders. Supposedly they recorded all new sounds. They come with a speaker,8 or 9 pin plug and retail for Half what a Tsunami does. Sounds are supposed to be great, could be very exciting, we’ll see.
Wonder if they will keep track of what sounds the record this time, so rather than syaing they have 32 horn sounds, they can tell you WHAT horn sounds they have.
–Randy
Unless they are getting them from a different factory in China that will actually do some quality control testing they will still be extremely unreliable.
Wow, what a lackluster response.Can someone who has actually heard one of these post a response? I know MRC is a 4 letter word on this forum,but it sounds like they may have ‘woke up and smelt the coffee’. I have 4 Athearn Genesis F units + a Proto 1000 RS-2 that could use these, if there as good as a tsunami for $41.xx ea. instead of $80 + a speaker. I wish I could find a sound sample or a review online somewhere.
I find it rather curious they don’t have any sound bites to listen to on their web site.
Dick Haave
Yah, I thought that too. I just found and read a review of their 16 bit Genset decoder, not good, seems they may not have ‘woke up’ Hoping their 16 bit 567 decoder is better.
But I’ll bet their advertising will claim that it’s a revolution in sound technology and light years ahead of everyone else.[swg]
Joe
Listen. It has NOTHING to do with “Listening” to the decoders. MRC has been given the benefit of the doubt many times on these forums. Every time they come out with an “improved” decoder, it doesn’t take long to realize that they like to fail whenever they feel like it.
Every single time someone comes on here all excited about the new MRC decoder, they turn around and tell us how they wasted their money on a terrible product and usually they are put off of sound all together.
Do your self a favor and purchase a quality decoder that will give you years a service, like a Tsuanmi , a Titan (QSI) or a Loksound decoder.
I will say it once more…
MRC decoders are NOT worth the PC board they are printed on…at ANY price.
MRC’s support is terrible at best.
MRC’s advertisements are misleading and should be illegal.
Feel free to purchase any MRC decoder you want, it is your money…but you have been warned.
David B
They don’t even have manuals to view on their web site for the new ones. I want to see if they actually list what the horn and bell sounds are, not just how they have such an awesome amount of memory that they can story dozens of horns and bells and let you select them with a CV. Everyone else that does this lists that settign the horn CV to 1 is a P3, 2 is a P5, 3 is a E2, etc so you know which one you need to select.
They ARE touting them as “the world’s most advanced decoders” and “engineered in New Jersey” LOL
–Randy
Your gamble, go ahead and save $40 and take the risk, but please report back your experiences as a benefit to the community.
I prefer to support another company whom has first class engineering, service and support. As far as I’m concerned MRC has done damage to the hobby with their Tyco quality decoders, it will take a decade of outstanding MRC products to possibly erase the failures of the past. If they do, good for them, but until that happens…
I’m in a ‘wait and see’ mode too. I have already been bit once.
Wouldn’t this fall into that “you get what you pay for” category ?
Mark.
FWIW I’ve got one of the new $40+ Digitrax sound decoders on order, be interesting to see how that works. One nice thing is you can download new sounds onto it.
New? Hardly.
Digitrax sound decoders have been around for over 5 years now and their technology has NEVER been upgraded.
David B
Let’s put it this way. I purchased ONE MRC sound decoder. Never ever again.
Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me.
I whole-heartedly disagree.
I have several MRC sound decoders, including the 1955, and they sound fantastic. They have been run two to three times a day for the past 16 months or so. They are extremely reliable. I love them and will continue to buy them when I acquire new engines.
Want a sucky decoder? Buy Digitrax.
I’ll need some serious convincing to get an MRC decoder again. I have one. It actually still works, but it has to be reset periodically, it just goes haywire and quits working, thank God for Decoder Pro. The worst part is the sound, it is way too loud and I can’t adjust it any lower, it is on its lowest setting now. It will teach me to go cheap on one of my son’s locos!
Like it or not, MRC has a serious PR issue on its hands. What amounts to blatant over inflation of their performance in their advertising is hardly the way to woo sceptics. For every person that is happy with their product there appears to be a dozen who have had a bad experience. Frankly, if it were not for their distribution channels, putting their product at bargain prices in every general purpose hobby shop, I can’t imagine they would still be in business with their track record in DCC.
Have you heard any others? The Alco sounds in the one MRC decoder I have are hideous compared to my MTH. And I guess you must just pick whatever horn sounds good to you, without regard for what horn is actually on the given loco, since MRC can’t tell you which is a Nathan 5 chime, a Leslie 5 chime, etc. Seems funny to me if they really went out and recorded the sounds from actual locomotives, they could have written down each horn the captured so they’d know which one was which.
My Soundbug makes better Alco sounds, although no one has a 244 project so I can’t use it in an RS3.
–Randy
Ah, yes. MRC, the company that will lie to your face. They did to me. I asked them at the Springfield Show about their new (at the time) drop in sound decoder for Atlas S-unit locos. I told them I heard rumors that they had recorded the wrong engine for their sound effects. The MRC rep. told me that oh, no, those rumors were wrong and that all their sound decoders are recorded live from the real engines that match the decoders.
BZZZZZZT! Wrong! The Alco S-unit board they made distinctly sounds like an Alco 244 V-12 RS-3 and not a straight-6 539 Alco. Most people can tell the difference between a 6 cylinder and a 12 cylinder engine…but MRC can’t.
The funny part to me is that months later, the as ever ridiculous back of MR advertizing from MRC actually described the S-unit sound decoder as having a 244 prime mover in it. D’oh! [oops]
Also, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… MRC sound decoders have a 50% failure rate at our DCC club. At least half have failed to either program or run (or both!).
Paul A. Cutler III
Loksound has a 244 project in their Select Direct line of decoders. Not really sure why people always tend to forget about Loksound decoders when the topic of sound comes up. They’ve recently released an Atlas style board as a drop-in replacement, their motor control is second to none and they are adding new sound files on a regular basis.
I went on the recording session with ESU when they did the C630M, and I can tell you, these are not “pitch bent” sounds. Each notch was recorded under load including the proper transitions between each notch.
These decoders also have manual notching and a properly functioning dynamic brake - not just a button that turns on a fan sound ! Anyone interested in proto-typical sound really needs to check these out.
Mark.