BillFitzmaurice.info

Alright, alright, I'm going to raise my hands in surrender before I even put this out here. BUT... what value would any of you put into the mods this company offers to do to your 2496 to improve it's "immediacy", "presence", and "speed"?

http://www.asi-tek.com/behringer2.html

Would ANY of the mods they tout make any measurable or HEARABLE improvments??

Anything that bypasses the stock analog I/O would be an audible improvement.

I'll be modding my DCX soon and am going with this kit instead:

http://www.behringermods.com/dcx2496.html

Radian, if I read that right, it would be an extra $357? (1 for the inputs x58 + 3 for the outputs x58 plus shipping.)

Rich4349 wrote: Would ANY of the mods they tout make any measurable or HEARABLE improvments??

Measurable, sure. I'm sure you would go from .01% thd to .0005% thd.

Hearable? If you believe it then you will hear it. That's how fancy cables get sold. If I point out something new in a painting then you will always pay attention to that as well.

The DCX is one of the best sounding dsp's on the market. The dbx260 one of the worst. IME it is invisible in the signal chain. I've used it for hifi and it has been one of the clearest sounding processors I've ever used.

Don't take my word for it, test it yourself: set it up with no x-overs or filters setup, just straight through from input to output. Listen to a track direct to headphones, then patch the DCX in and listen again. Did you hear any degradation in sound?

IMO your system will sound 100 times better learning how to fiddle the knobs you have and learning about phase or some other aspect of sound than upgrading inputs on an already (except for its quirky muting the outputs when you zero a filter) fine piece of equipment.

Other than the great responses already, I think you need to do more research.

I'll give you an example why.

When I put my rig together, I ended up with a couple of the (much maligned) Alesis 3630 compressor/lmiters/gates.
Extensive research showed mods meant to fix it's problems.
More extensive research showed that no mod kit actually addressed the main problem with the 3630, being an design fault in the input side!
So, in that case, the mods were all hype.

The DCX is what it is, at it's price range. No amount of modding justifies a price in excess of $1000, when, arguably better, more rider friendly brands exist for a cheaper retail price than that figure.

Also, when you link a DEQ and a DCX together, if you do that with the AES/EBU capability of both units, you eliminate the analogue D/A converter on the output of the DEQ and the A/D converter on the input side of the DCX.
In other words, you are now feeding the DCX a digital input.

That pretty much covers one of the mods, with a $5 lead.

You should try that, I'm told it makes a significant difference within itself.
It's on my list of things to try...

For the prices they are charging to do this "upgrade," you could purchase a brand new far better and more capable unit from Symetrix or Ashly, instead of having a hacked Behringer unit.

Tom Smit wrote:Radian, if I read that right, it would be an extra $357? (1 for the inputs x58 + 3 for the outputs x58 plus shipping.)

Even better. I only desire the three outputs because I run digital all the way through like Grant was describing. Arguably, a person could get by with just one on an output (patched to the tops) if running two-way, but I'd prefer the flexibility afforded by doing all three pair.

I have a DCX I am very happy with. I got it cheap on Ebay and when I first got it it had some annoying low level noise, and occasional low level static, pops and clicks. This was a known issue in early models attributed to the ribbon cable connecting the digital circuit board to the output circuit board. Kind of a pain but I replace the cable and PCB connectors with gold plated dual row headers. Been quiet as a mouse ever since.

I would not bother with the mods I've seen on-line. They are pricey and would put the total expense into the range of better gear.