dbx Quantum

I found the Quantum much easier to use than the finalizer. You do have do read the manual, and then do some hands on with the manual close by, it worked for me. For me it was much easier once i unerstood what each parameter was for, how it affected the signal being processed. I'have even used it as a straight D/A converter sending the unprocessed mix to the monitors before a got a dedicated external D/A.

The sound quality is excellent, the A/D D/A converters are very good, they did not seem to have a signature sound like say apogee Rosetta which I also used. Quiet as long as your signal coming in is clean, noise in noise out. I really like the way the wizard works, it allows the unit to be used for tracking, mixing, and mastering. Another great feature is the stereo width adjustment, this enables the adjusting of the stereo field that either to wide which won't translate well in mono, or to expand the field on certain instruments.

Never a crash, I have version 1.5, only been used in the studio.

Never needed them, but for other dbx items they are pretty responsive

I primarily a pop rock type of music, lots of instrumentation layers. I had a tc electronic finalizer, sold it, I like the quantum loads more. I would not sell this unit, couldn't find a replacement for it what i paid for it. The input/output flexibility is just wonderful. Analog, SPDIF, AES/EBU, wordclock in and out, and all of the outputs are available at the same time, can you say flexibility. Tracking, sub mixing, mixdown, mastering, and even as just an AD/DA or DA/AD converter.

Very easy to use and intuitive layout of the controls. Takes a bit of getting used to if you're not familiar with multi-band processing (as I wasn't before I got this thing.)

Editing is simple as can be.

Mine has the newest software, version 1.5 which makes the Quantum identical to the Quantum II except that the Quantum II has the video output so you can plug the unit into a monitor.

Outstanding quality. My mixes have never sounded better than when I got this unit. Even using the presets it made my mix 100X more punchy and clear. I was amazed. Best piece of equipment I've bought in a long time. I will never ever ever get rid of it.

A/D convertors are great. I/O options are great. No noise. No effects really, mostly dynamics processing in this unit though there are 'warmth' simulations and tube saturation simulation effects in here if you want to use them (I did, they sound awesome.)

No problems with it yet whatsoever.

Haven't needed any help with it yet, but I did email them before I bought the thing to ask a few questions. They responded very quickly and answered everything I asked.

Probably the most indespensible (did I spell that right?) piece of gear in my rack right now. I will never work on a mix without this unit again. If it were stolen I would buy another one that day, no question about it. I used to own the TC Electronic Finalizer which was supposed to do the same thing as this unit. The Quantum makes the Finalizer seem like a crappy kids toy in my opinion, plus it was harder to use.

I'm absolutely in love with this piece of gear, my mixes have never sounded better. Do yourself a favor and buy one, you will not regret it!

This is a fairly complicated piece of equipment, which is it's only drawback. The manual is a bit confusing.(DBX is not known for having logical manuals.)There are factory pre-sets, but they are lacking to my ears. You must spend time working with the manual and the unit, and learn to either tweak the pre-sets or use your own set-ups. The end result will be some great sounding mixes.

I bought this to polish up the mixes in my home studio. I have a 16-track Tascam/Soundcraft set-up, with a fair amount of pro-level outboard gear. I just could not get my mixes to sound "right". This unit made a HUGE difference. The mixes sound infinitely crisper and more "punchy". I come off the board, into the Quantum, and then to a Tascam CD-5000 CD burner. Much better sounding masters than before.

I have not had the unit long, but my experience with DBX gear in the past has been real good. As far as I can tell all their gear is well-made and reliable.

Excellent. I have called and e-mailed several times with questions, and they have always been polite and helpful.

This is a great piece of gear, probably the best purchase I have made in some time. I have also mastered with the TC Electronics Finalizer Express(hated it), the DBX DDP (very good, sort of a Quantum "little brother"), and various other compressor/eq combinations. The Quantum is the one. It isn't cheap, and you really need to by-pass the pre-sets and use it manually, but all in all it "rocks"!

It has the newest OS v1.5. The diagrams in the manual are pretty self explanatory. Some have complained of the difficulty to use the unit. Just sit with it, and the manual, and take out an hour to find your way through the menus, it's worth it. After that process, editing the patches is fairly simple.

I use this unit sits between my DAW (computer) and an external CD burner (digitally). It has a very high quality dithering algorithm from the 24 bit down to 16 bit (CD).
This thing completes my studio setup. I have a very extensive, yet basic, $25,000 Mac based G4 home studio. I cannot say enough about the Quantum. It puts such a warm, seductive, radio ready sheen on my tracks. Words cannot describe how much I dig this thing. Awesome!!!

It just sits at home in my studio furniture rack and has been great so far.

They were great. They sent me the newest OS on a CD-ROM because of the fact that you need a pc (not a Mac) to upgrade it via midi. Then my friends at Guitar Center updated it for me.

It may not work for everyone as in the reviewer before me, but, if you can find it used for a good price like I did, it is a TOTAL steal. Even for the $1499 it usually sells for it's a great deal. It truly was the missing link in my setup. A tremendous mastering processor!!!!

Ive been using the Quantum for mastering for the last seven months, so here are my thoughts on it. For such a powerful and advanced machine, the manual is incredibly slim, totally around sixty! pages. Sometimes this is a plus, letting you find functions and info quickly without having to wade through a long contents page or index, but on the downside you sometimes feel that some functions are covered with ridiculous brevity. Once i got to know the operating system and lay out of the functions i felt i could zip around the machine very quickly, getting to any page in less then a second, with a few button taps. I feel this sort of speed is essential in mastering, as concentration has to be very high during mastering with a window of about ten minutes per track before concentration slips as the ears get tired. One very annoying thing is the way the quantum implements presets, using a sort of two layered preset structure. What this means in practice is that you lose your presets several times until, after much manual browsing and head scrathing you finally understand their strange system.

If i had to use one word to sum up the quantums performance it would be ---frustrating---- Firstly, with the quantum NOT in bypass mode, but with no processing taking place--ie no compression, gating, expansion, eq, dither, stereo fx or anything else, the sound is clearly LOUDER then in bypass mode. This doesn't help with A-B comparisons and makes me suspect the quality of the filters that make up the crossovers. Secondly, the smallest increment that many parameters can be changed is .5 db, with many only changable by 1 db, including threshold in the compression. This is simply not enough definition for serious mastering. Thirdly, i have serious complaints about the limiter. Its a limiter that doesnt limit! To my ears, it is simple a second compressor. Even with an infinite ratio and -10db threshold on all bands, clipping can still occur. On a mastering processor, this is not acceptable. I should mention that in single band mode, the limiter does have a brick wall nature. The eq is nice sounding but is let down by .5 increments. The gate works as expected and the stereo width adjuster can be useful in tightening up an overly out of phase mix. The low level enhancer (which makes quite sounds louder but leaves peaks alone )can be useful if used very subtly. However, the normalization function, including soft clipping also leaves me un impressed. The designers should have taken a hard look at waves L1 (or L2) ultramaximizer, because the quantums soft clipping is pathetic by comparison. The bottom line is that using the quantum alone, it is impossible to get music to the kind of loudness required by some idiot producers and record companies . But putting all my whinging and moaning to one side, i think the overall sound of the quantum is musical and transparent, and has left many customers very satisfied.

The unit has been very stable with only one crash in 7 months. Its very sturdy in build

Ive only e-mailed the company once (complaining about the limiter) and got a reply back in less than 24 hours

Finesse is not a word that springs to mind with the quantum, but used in conjunction with an L2 Ultramaximizer, i think you could master as good as the top pros (many of who are using the 3 band finalizer). When they bring out the 5 band version with .1 increments, brickwall limit on all bands and dynamic eq, i'll be first in the queue.