Bought one of these for an SD40-2 application.
Gotta say it's pretty lackluster. The 8-bit sound is certainly one major problem as the fidelity is utter crap another is that it's just too quiet, even at max volume, and at high revs (admittedly higher than I'd ever run, it was on a stationary test track) it was almost completely drowned out by the whirring of the motor at high speeds. No, it wasn't properly baffled at the time, but I promise you no amount of baffling was going to save this decoder/speaker. And for the price you'd think they could include the motor clips and save me the trouble of desoldering/soldering as well as actually include the tape that the instructions say should be included. I mean, if you're actually expecting modelers to desolder/resolder their motor clips as well as mill a frame, you kind of defeat the point of a plug-n-play decoder and they might as well be buying a far superior Tsunami decoder with just a tough more installation difficulty.
Voltage drop when activating sounds was immense. I didn't measure it and it was on a stationary test track, but revs seemed to drop by at least 25% when activating the horn; it was certainly VERY noticeable. The decoder comes with a capacitor which I assume can be used to correct this problem (the instructions mention it as being optional, but give zero clue as to its purpose). However, the included capacitor is huge. I'm not sure how one could ever hope to fit it inside a unit as it's about the size (and twice the depth) of even the speaker the thing comes with.
This was definitely one of the worst buys I've made in this hobby. It's nowhere near worth the ~$60 asking price and far worse than even MRC's slightly-cheaper units. I'd just as soon run it without sound than with this sound. The Paragon2 sound in the BLI E9 I bought on a lark is infinitesimally better (flippin' amazing actually) and you can get those entire units on clearance right now for $80 and just rank out the decoder/speaker if you were so inclined (though of course with incorrect sound). Our save your pennies for a decent Tsunami decoder.
