Price: $229.00
(as of Dec 24, 2024 04:14:19 UTC - Details)

Introducing the dbx 266xs Compressor / Gate, the latest innovation from the inventors of compression technology. The 266xs is designed to elevate your audio experience, whether you're in the studio, on tour, or setting up a portable PA sound system. With patented Overeasy® compression technology, this compressor ensures smooth, musical performance that enhances the quality of your sound. The dbx 266xs features AutoDynamic™ attack and release controls, making it easy to achieve great sound with minimal effort. This versatile unit can operate in both stereo and dual-mono modes, providing flexibility for various applications. Equipped with true RMS power summing, quality XLR, and 1/4" TRS inputs and outputs, the 266xs offers professional-grade connectivity options. Visual feedback is a breeze with the dbx 266xs. It includes gain reduction metering and easy-to-read backlit switches, allowing you to monitor your audio levels accurately. Adding this compressor to your audio chain can smooth out uneven levels, add sustain to guitars, and fatten up your drums. It also brings vocals to the forefront, ensuring greater clarity and presence in your mix. Recommended for portable setups, touring rigs, and studio environments, the dbx 266xs Compressor is a must-have for anyone serious about achieving a polished, professional sound. Enhance your audio with the reliability and innovation that only dbx can provide.
Versatile Connectivity - With quality XLR and 1/4" TRS inputs and outputs, the 266xs seamlessly integrates into any audio setup, whether it's a professional studio or a live sound rig.
Enhanced Vocal Clarity - The dbx 266xs audio compressor is perfect for bringing vocals to the forefront of your mix, ensuring they stand out with greater clarity and presence.
Professional Performance - The dbx 266xs audio compressor utilizes patented Overeasy compression technology and AutoDynamic attack and release controls, providing smooth, musical performance for both studio and live applications.
Side chain insert is an option that allows tightening and clarifying of frequencies that have multiple instruments like bass, and kick drum.
Comprehensive Visual Feedback - The dbx 266xs features separate precision LED displays for gain reduction, compression threshold, and gate threshold, allowing for quick and accurate setup, ensuring optimal performance.
Versatile Application - Ideal for both studio recording and live performances, the dbx 266xs audio compressor ensures professional-quality sound, enhancing instruments like guitars and drums while providing a polished, cohesive mix.
1U Single Rack Space: Height 1.75" x Depth 5.75" x Width 19"
Inputs: ¼” TRS and female XLR (pin 2 Hot)
Outputs: ¼” TRS and female XLR (pin 2 Hot)
Reviewer: J-Sigmo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent value for the money.
Review: These compressors work very well.My application is probably not the usual one because I'm not using these for recording or studio work, although I can see how they'd be excellent, especially for digital recording where you absolutely must prevent clipping in the recording process.In my case, I got tired of never being able to understand the quiet dialog when watching TV or movies at home without setting the listening levels so high that it was annoying during the loud scenes. This is related to why I never go out to see movies at a movie theater. When you need hearing protection to avoid hearing damage, that's not my idea of entertainment, and certainly not entertainment I have to pay for!With some custom built cables, I connected one of these units between the audio outputs of our TV and one set of inputs to our receiver while allowing the "straight" TV Outs to feed another input pair on the receiver.When watching shows that are already highly compressed, we can switch to the "straight TV" inputs, but when watching many movies, and lots of newer TV shows, we can switch to the "compressed TV" inputs and enjoy being able to hear and understand the quietest dialog while preserving our hearing during the loud scenes.Of course, you may still need to use the closed captioning to decipher the "English" spoken during many BBC productions, but the compression does help there, too! ;)In this application, I am not using the downward expansion (noise gating) at all because noise reduction in the quiet parts is not really needed.I am using the "over-easy" function, and the automatic setting of the attack and release time constants, and find that all to work very well, keeping the sound quite natural despite the fairly heavy-handed compression I have dialed in.In addition, the ability to link the two channels so that the RMS sum of the signal levels into the two channels determines the compression applied to both channels simultaneously is very handy, and I have that engaged as well.My wife and I really are enjoying this setup and it's made our TV viewing much more pleasurable.I'm using a second one of these compressors to process the audio from a police scanner to bring the quiet talkers' voice levels way up so they can be heard while keeping the normal and loud talkers from blasting our ears off. That signal, too, can be selected as one of the inputs to the receiver. Without the compression, it would be downright dangerous to feed the audio from such a source into a good audio system for fear of what kinds of horrible noises might be fed, at high power, through your "good" speakers.Again, for this channel, I am using the automatic attack/release timing switch, which seems to work very well, choosing the right attack and release time constants to make for good intelligibility without pumping or subjecting us to bursts of loud noise. It's very tame, indeed. And as with the TV system, I am not using the downward expansion/noise gating function. When the radios are unkeyed, the output is pretty much silent anyhow.In this scanner system, I am not using the "over-easy" function because I want a sharper cut-off transition to really bring up the very soft talkers while holding the loud sounds (Plectron alerts and the like) down to sane levels. This source doesn't need to sound "natural".In general, I'm not a huge fan of compression of music during playback. I want to hear the full dynamic range that the orchestra conductor and recording engineer wanted me to hear. But then, when I listen to music, it's under controlled conditions, in a quiet room, and I am free to turn things up to whatever level I prefer.However, I can see how some compression might be handy for such cases as listening in a car, where you've already got 75dB or so of road noise to overcome, or during a party or get-together where people will want to hold conversations, yet might want some background music.And, of course, for recording, particularly live performances where the artists may get a bit over-enthusiastic during the real performance and play louder than they did during reherasals/sound checks, I can see where having some compression set up could really save the day and prevent a recording from being totally spoiled. Not to mention the obvious guitar sustain or other effects possible with a compressor.Anyhow, I've been running these for a month and a half, and have had no problems or issues of any sort. They've been reliable so far, and perform the functions I need quite well. And I felt that the price was quite reasonable for what you get.The controls feel solid, the build looks very nice, the connectors seem reliable, etc. And the various displays are very handy for setting levels and knowing where you're at.This unit seems like a solid, well thought-out design.

Reviewer: Poindexter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Works Very Well
Review: This is my first jump into compression/expansion, but I am very satisfied with how this machine works and the results I get. The instruction booklet gave me a place to start and did a good job of explaining what each of the settings meant. From then on I made incremental adjustments to get the precise results I was looking for. I do podcasts, so I only have to be concerned about my voice. Still, my recordings come out sounding professional. If I had a real recording studio I probably wouldn't need the 166XS, but since I record in my bedroom this machine has become indispensable. Dogs barking next door, cars driving past my house--none of that is a concern anymore because they just don't make it past the threshold.UPDATE, Nov. 20, 2013.I continue to enjoy using this machine. My recordings would be quite inferior without it. I have noticed, however, that the more I use it and understand what each control is actually doing to my sound, the more I want to adjust the controls even further. I think I've made three or four major changes to the controls since I purchased the machine, all in an effort to perfect the recording quality. I believe this latest adjustment yields the best results, and allows me to speak in a cadence and rhythm that is closest to the way I would speak without all the electronics, but at the same time removing the background noise and hiss.There is no one correct control setting(s). You really have to do a lot of trial-and-error tuning to get the right amount of compression/expansion for the project you are working on. But it does make a major difference in my recordings. I almost want to go back and re-record all the projects I completed before installing the 166XS . . . NOT!

Reviewer: Leroy A. Jones
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Received in good condition.
Review: The product came in excellent condition, the packaging box was taped up but the product worked well.

Reviewer: Daniel V.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Recomendable buen equipo buen producto tiene una fidelidad de audio tremendo son bueno llego antes de la fecha mencionada

Reviewer: noname
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Gate works well for very quite bleed not so much for average bleed, the compressor works well and transparent. No complaints about the build quality it feels more expensive than it is. Overall a good buy a better compressor would be 3 times the price and I would probably question the build quality of those. For a budget starter compressor a definite buy (if you know how to use compressors and gates). You can hear the DBX 160 sound (when pushed) that you get in the Plugin versions of DBX. Nothing to write home about but for a first compressor, it is a bargain from a big name in the industry and likely to stay in the rack even after buying more expensive gear.

Reviewer: Stanford Mitchell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was nervous buying such a cheap compressor. I have an old Peavey soft knee compressor/de-esser for more than 30years, simplified SSL line and bus compressors on my SSL SiX mini mixer, various hardware fx compressors, and plugins.The DBX 166XS is a multifunctional work horse that has all the controls for shaping Attack and Release, Ratio etc., instead of using plugins for occasions that I want to sculpt e.g. toms, bass, or reducing bad sounds in ways that are beyond the abilities of my other compressors. Balanced cable ins and outs which is great on a compressor because bringing up any unbalanced cable noise and circuit noise with all the gain of a compressor is awful ... just ask any guitarist.At first I managed to make some horrible sound with the limiter but I backed it off and have not noticed any problem since.I am getting on fine with the very simplified noise gate, which was a surprise because I have often struggled with hardware noise gates in the past.I definitely prefer this as a workhorse multifunctional compressor all the way up to £600 and even if I had a £1000 to £2000 compressor I would still definitely keep and use the dbx 166XS.I have no noise problems, get the levels right and it seems close enough to silent to me.... it is far quieter than some other compressors I have used. And it is by far the most fun compressor I have used.Does it do that sweet invisible but clear SSL bus mastering thing ? it seems like it kinda almost could ish, I confess I use the SSL stereo bus compressor on the SiX for that. But to my crude ears it delivers bucket loads of that classic dbx 160A punch and slam, and with the side chain and the built in gate and limiter it becomes way more controllable and musical.So to me the dbx 166XS is great as a line or track compressor generally, but also especially for those moments when you just wanna choke something to the ground or when you want to surgically zero in on a specific issue.

Reviewer: antonio vicente sarabia
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: me lo he puesto en mi karaoke, perfecto

Reviewer: Jean-Marie HUET
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Je connais la marque DBX. C'est un excellent produit qui fait vraiment le job pour un bon prix en plus.