Some thoughts on dbx...

[clhboa]

I was playing with the dbx nr on my Yamaha deck. I've mostly used dolby previously. Yes, it really gets rid of tape hiss and you can really crank the input levels but what is the downside? It seems to me that the music has a harsher tone than when using dolby b. I am listening to the tapes I made last last night and my ears are really starting to get fatigued. Anybody with more dbx experience have any thoughts to the characteristics of it?

[Acoustic]

Just from what you've said and my experience. I think you are recording at to high of levels. My tapes have sounded best (I've experimented) with levels on Type II tapes at playback falling between 0 and +3db whereas with no NR I usually went to +5db. This is on a Nak CR-5.

Also does this deck have Type I or Type II dbx? Just to say my experience is with Type II. Do you have a gain control (like on my stand alone dbx units) during playback on your deck? Getting the levels of the source, the recording and playback are crucial. But after you get it right... you just set it and forget it.

After getting all the levels during record and playback on the mark.... I believe the sound of dbx Type II NR surpasses anything I've ever heard with any of the Dolby's... NR without compromise. With them there either was a loss of high end or the sound was having a veil over it. So with that said the downside: Well tape traders (and other tapers) got word out that you couldn't play a dbx recorded cassette on a system without dbx. So you couldn't give a tape to a friend. You probably couldn't take the tape to your car deck to play. Same with your Walkman... no dbx= no listening to that tape. I believe those factors and the fact that dbx was an extra expense in most cases... you had to buy a separate unit, new a 224X went for $249... where Dolby was built in to almost all decks. No doubt a major factor.*check*

[braxus]

There were some cassette decks with DBX built in. My one Aiwa is one of them. Its a shame it didn't catch on more. It is very good.

[Scorpion8]

There were some cassette decks with DBX built in.

I have two, a Teac V-1RX and a Technics RS-M255x that have built in dbx. I also had a Yamaha K-720 with it but that deck was flaky and went buh-bye. The dbx works fine, but seems best if played back on the same deck that did the recording.

[clhboa]

Just from what you've said and my experience. I think you are recording at to high of levels. My tapes have sounded best (I've experimented) with levels on Type II tapes at playback falling between 0 and +3db whereas with no NR I usually went to +5db. This is on a Nak CR-5.

Also does this deck have Type I or Type II dbx? Just to say my experience is with Type II. Do you have a gain control (like on my stand alone dbx units) during playback on your deck? Getting the levels of the source, the recording and playback are crucial. But after you get it right... you just set it and forget it.

After getting all the levels during record and playback on the mark.... I believe the sound of dbx Type II NR surpasses anything I've ever heard with any of the Dolby's... NR without compromise. With them there either was a loss of high end or the sound was having a veil over it. So with that said the downside: Well tape traders (and other tapers) got word out that you couldn't play a dbx recorded cassette on a system without dbx. So you couldn't give a tape to a friend. You probably couldn't take the tape to your car deck to play. Same with your Walkman... no dbx= no listening to that tape. I believe those factors and the fact that dbx was an extra expense in most cases... you had to buy a separate unit, new a 224X went for $249... where Dolby was built in to almost all decks. No doubt a major factor.*check*


Thanks for your input. I'll try it again with the levels greatly reduced. The manual said to just keep it below +18, so those lights were pretty maxed out. They were barely moving up and down. I was using a type II tape with the chrome setting on. No it doesn't have gain.