Sound Files Explained

With all the recent releases the website is becoming a little disjointed and we might find a way to do it better at some point, but for now its just a case of making sure everything is on there. We'll start with the newest ranges and work backwards trying to explain them. The first thing to mention is that all the decoders we sell are Loksound 5's made by ESU, regardless of what page you buy it from, its the same hardware.

SWD Sounds. SWD have been one of the main sound providers since DCC sound came to the UK, and we have been buying their sound files for years to load onto decoders, and sold them for £124.99, however they have now done a deal with ESU so that the sound files can be downloaded free from the ESU website, meaning we don't need to charge the £15 for the sound file any more, making them a cheaper decoder, but not necessarily worse. These are available here https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/collections/swd-decoders

ESU Hifi Sounds. These are also free sound files, made by ESU in Germany. The Europeans have been making top quality sound files for years, but only recently started making them for the UK market. These sound files utilise most of the memory on the decoders, with the sounds recorded at a higher bit rate than many other sounds. ESU know their own decoders better than anyone and make these files to match them perfectly. These sound files are free to download, making them the same price as the SWD decoders. Find them on the website here. https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/collections/esu-hifi-sound-decoders

Third party sounds. These are the sounds we have sold for the longest. These are sound files bought in from third party providers, such as Legomanbiffo, Jamie Goodman, Wheeltappers and Howes. we are unique in that we haven't got an allegiance to one particular 'brand' of sound, we work with all the main providers giving you lots of choice. When ordering these decoders you can choose 'other' and type who's sound you want in the box that appears, or you can choose 'recommended' and we'll send you the most popular one that's best for your model in our opinion, meaning the recommended sound will always be good. Because we have several people to pick sounds from, this selection of sound decoders is by far the biggest. We have to pay for the sound files per decoder, so this charge is added to the price you pay, making these the most expensive sound decoder option. Find these here https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/collections/sound-decoders

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