DBX 166XL or 266XL?

[chemicalwinter]

What is everyones preference on these two compressors? What makes each one unique? I need a solid, cheap stereo compressor and these two seem to be the most qualified.

[Ashofapheonix]

DBX have a coloured sound for pop rock music. Personally as far as good processors go, in the box processors beat the midrange class of hardware like DBX 166XL easy. Voxengo's plugs for pc users Marquis and Crunchessor would kick the butt of the 166 any day of the weak. However for hardware units, the 166XL is a better unit by a good bit, closer to the units DBX is really known for the 160... However at the 266XL most people would go for an FMR RNC, which is a fairly transparent compressor, and considered one of the best deals out at its price point, and in a lot of situations can work as well as an expensive 2000 $ compressor (Though many of them are bought for their colour and flavour).

[Fredrik]

Dont bother with the 266 go for the 166 if the choise is between these two. The 166 sounds pretty similar to the 160 in the way it compress but is not as clean and has more noise.

[auxpot]

i´d second the rnc..in that price range you can´t go a better route in terms of versatility and sound quality i think...

if you are looking for "that" dbx sound than it would be wise to go for a used 166 (not a, not xl etc)...you can find them very cheap...it´s at least useable...
the 166xl or 266xl is a waste of money in my opinion....

[dementedchord]

all thoughs that think an rnc is better can have them as far as i'm concerned.... as for the diff in the 2 dbx... for alittle more dough i'ld get the 166... IIRC the 266 doesnt have the gate function and is not truelly a balanced (differential drive) circuit... it's just "balance terminated"