For those interested, I’ve posted a comparson video of a SoundTraxx Tsunami and Titan [Beta testing] ALCO 244.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHI_4wfbUKA
I’m aware that the ALCO 244 was not used in either the RS-1 or RS-11. The video and decoder installation is for demonstrative and testing purposes only.
Each decoder has two 35x16.2 mm speakers with enclosures firing down thru the trucks. Your feed back and discussion is appreciated.
I’m interested in what more people think as well. While I thought The Titan had a much better horn and more detail, I liked the overall sound of the Tsunami better, mainly because I thought it had a deeper sound with better bass.
Here is a quote about this from another thread I posted.
“The main reason I thought the Tsunami sounded better in Erik’s video comparison is it had much lower frequencies than the Titan. And since low frequencies in tiny speakers are hard to get, that was the main thing I noticed different in the comparison. Although Erik said he used the same speakers in each unit, we don’t know anything about his speaker installation methods, and that could be critical. It’s too bad he couldn’t have used the same loco’s with the same speaker installation.”
I think that sensation of more bass is just that. The Tsunami sound really flat, without much details, and a lot of ‘whoosh’ sound, whereas the Titan has nice and clear sounds, you can actually hear the difference between sounds coming from the diesel engine as opposed to sounds from the other machinery.
–Randy
I have installed quite a few QSI’s and also tsunami’s but only one Titan, which was installed in my Baldwin AS616 with twin mini-ovals. The sound is superb and control is just as excellent. Up until this video I thought the QSI 244 was terrible, but if this is the new 244 sound that’s what I’ll buy. (I’m not impressed with thier old 251 either). I will freely admit that the Tsunami prime movers are excellent, but control along with the other bells and whistles, to me anyway, QSI has it. The 251, 244, and 539 are disapointing to me. On the other hand I have some RS27’s and a RSD17 (251’s) that have excellents sounds, confusing?
Den.
Confusing is right. I still don’t know what to choose for the locos I need to equip. I’m almost tempted to buy both a Titan and Tsunami and test it out for myself.
Too bad all the people that have viewed this thread haven’t replied as to what they think sounds best in Erik’s video.
Not a fair test at all. The Tsunami shines when you adjust it’s equalizer and reverb to match the speaker involved. As well the Tsunami is reproducing the bass sounds where the QSI chip focuses on the sounds that can be reproduced correctly by the speaker. In short, You adjust Taunamis to match the speaker and with QSI you match the speaker to the decoder. A better test would be to hook both decoders to amps and play them through larger speakers, not make a test that is bias towards one decoder and the other. David B
Erik, solely at face value, the Tsunami has a more accurate and realistic/bassy prime mover sound than the Titan. However, if you actually did any ‘notching’, the Titan wins hands down as far as replicating the notching incremental sounds. I only listened for about four swaps back and forth, and that is my judgement.
Crandell
The ALCO 244 and De La Vergne 8-(Baldwin VO 1000) had a very distinctive “thud” sound from the cylinders at idle. I think the Titan nailed this aspect.