This product recently came out to replace the 1644 and 1644-2 DCC sound decoders meant for engines like the Kato SD70M, MAC, the AC4400CW, the FVM GEVO among others. I had high hopes that it could become a mainstay decoder in that MRC's products have improved over the years, and they are still superior to the Digitrax sound decoder line. What I had hoped would be a quick install into a Kato AC4400CW became an unpleasant, lengthy and eventually unsatisfactory exercise. First issue: No GE prime mover of any kind in the 6 available engine sounds. Next problem: nearly inaudible sound when installed as per instructions. Other issues: Weird bells compared to previous decoders, and the ring rate can't be slowed down to an appropriate frequency. Fewer horns than before and many of them sound like car horns. Brake squeal shortened from several seconds to less than one second. Auxiliary engine sounds are less convincing. Inaudible dynamic brake. No auto brake squeal upon stopping, even as an option. Tiny surface mount LEDs (why are all manuf. using these crappy tiny components that make insufficient light?) which are amber and dim. I replaced the front one with a 2mm sunny white LED, giving great lighting to the front lights and numberboards. The rear LED can't be removed because of the crowding of components in the back. It can't be seen when on. Eventually I milled the fuel tank and added a Soundtraxx 10mm round 8 ohm speaker in it's proprietary enclosure, wired in parallel to the existing on board speaker. These are 32 ohms, so total is 6.4 ohms, a bit risky, but theoretically should increase volume. The sound volume and quality definitely improved, but still way too quiet. Even the almost silent AC4400CW mechanism noise drowns out the prime mover at anything over about 30 scale mph. I don't have any issue with the motor control, not the best, but given the already smooth locos for which it was designed, no problems either. I had two decoders, and tried both, they both functioned exactly the same. There is a master volume control which doesn't seem to do anything. You can change the volume of anything EXCEPT the prime mover volume--the CV doesn't do anything audible. The 16-bit sound processor should approach CD quality sound, but in N scale and at the sound levels achieved, you can't tell from the old 8-bit (mp3 quality). The new 1960 decoder is inferior in every way to it's 8 bit predecessor, the 1644-2. And try to find those now, they don't make them anymore. There is one MRC sound decoder that proves they can do it: the 1808 decoder for the Kato SD80/90MACs. It is so loud that even the minimum setting is almost too much. And the sound quality is surprisingly good, considering the tiny 10mm speaker. Whatever they did with that one, they haven't been able to reproduce with any other. I have done a bunch of Digitrax sound decoder installs, and I'm no fan of those either. They all need added keep-alive capacitors, and speaker modifications, and the sound is not that good. They also have the extremely annoying behaviour of slowing the loco whenever the horn is activated. N scale diesel sound is very hit and miss. I'm very disappointed in MRC's new decoder which doesn't even have a single GE prime mover despite being designed to fit those models, and the lack of sound output. So far, the full-width Athearn F45/FP45 and F59PH1 with Soundtraxx Tsunami decoders are far and above the best of the bunch. I think MRC can make a decent-enough sound decoder as per the 1808, and why that one sticks out so far above the rest of their product line is a mystery to me. I wish they could be encouraged to make a better effort, and quickly come up with a 1960-2 with adequate sound output and a modern GE prime mover. I have no experience with ESU Loksound Micro decoders which are 10mm wide and could be made to fit in some modern hood diesels. Despite the high cost, I will have to try one. Let's face it. N scale diesel sound currently sucks, and there are physical limitations which make significant progress very iffy. But-to me-a DCC loco without sound is lacking something vital, and operating and adjusting the various sound effects, and trying to make them as realistic as you can is part of the attraction of the hobby for me. But, I digress...the whole point of this post is the new MRC 0001960 16-bit sound decoder is a major disappointment, they have done better before and they missed on this one. Too bad because it's now the only PNP choice for a large range of modern locos. Richard.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you on your review. I purchased more than a few of these and had to return them all. There is NO adjustment to the LED brightness(unacceptable dimness) - this according to MRC tech support. That to me was totally unaccetable; you could barely see the LED lit up without the shell on. Brian
I purchased and installed 3 MRC - 1955 sound decoders in Atlas locos. IMO the sound is great, better than my two factory equiped Athearn F45s, but the sound could be a little bit louded.
By and large I am a fan of the MRC sound decoders as they do add realism to the model railroad, and in the greater part PNP, as well as being reasonably priced. I have them installed in an Atlas B23-7 (excellent 8bit), Atlas H15-44 (superb 8bit), two Kato SD70Macs (satisfactory 8bit), two Kato SD80s (excellent 16bit), Kato F7 (satisfactory 8bit), Kato P42 (excellent 16bit) and one Atlas GP7 (poor 16bit). On one of the Kato SD70Macs, I replaced the 32ohm speaker with an 8ohm Soundtraxx speaker, but the difference in sound between the two is negligible, so I don't think this is a worthwhile exercise. I agree on the lighting. While the LED in the F7 is brilliant, the others are barely a pass mark in brightness, but then again I have non sound decoders from other manufacturers and their LEDs are not that flash either.
I'm going to take back a bit of the criticism of my opening post. Upon playing around with MU'ing the new MRC 1960 equipped AC4400CW with a Digitrax SDN144K1E equipped GEVO, the GEVO sound from the Digitrax was all you could hear when using any of the 3 EMD prime movers. However, when trying the Alco 244 sound, it was MUCH louder for some reason, and it had the clattery, uneven mechanical sound that, given the choices and circumstances, could just as well pass for a GE in N scale (not in a larger scale where the sound quality is much better). So all of sudden, I'm not as unhappy as before. I'm even thinking it is TOO loud, and needs to be quieted to match the Digitrax GEVO. BTW, replacing the front LED on the MRC 1960 is easy, don't try to save the tiny chip, just nip it off with rail nippers, then remelt the traces with your soldering iron and you're ready to add either a 2 or 3mm full-size LED. The front lighting is now even brighter than the original Kato golden white LEDs! I'll see if I get peeved with the Alco-pseudo GE prime mover. So far though, it's not bad.
