Do you know sound decoders of Japanese trains?

[489-YOMPAQ]

Do you know Kumata is selling DCC sound decorders of Japanese trains for HO/N?

http://www.kmt.co.jp/brands/esu/

There are DD51, D51, C62, Kiha(キハ)82, EF62, C57, C56, Kiha(キハ)20, DF50, DF200, DE10 and 9600.

[KenS]

It's about time somebody did it.  They need more electric trains (E231, etc), but I can see more expense in my future eventually (and the DE10 is tempting).

Anyone know a retailer who carries their product line and ships international?

Thanks for posting this; I wasn't aware of it at all.

[alpineaustralia]

Take a look at the price ! wow !

[CaptOblivious]

Those are ESU LokSound decoders with Japanese sounds installed. ESU kit isn't cheap! But I'd pay some money to get quality recordings of many of those trains to use in Digitrax's programmable sound decoders, or in my own custom kit.

NGDCC also has a limited selection of sound decoders for Kato HO EF58, EF65, DE10, DD51:
http://www.snjpn.com/ngdcc/indexj.htm

Indeed, next time I visit Japan, I'm going to bring a set of quality field-recording gear and take requests for trains to record.

[489-YOMPAQ]

CaptOblivious, thank you for telling me about NGDCC.

I'm interested in, but don't know well about DCC, aren't ESU's so popular because of price? 

[Martijn Meerts]

ESU is actually very popular in Europe for their sound decoders. They were some of the first to make custom decoders available for specific trains, rather than have generic decoders for diesel, electric, steam etc.

Unfortunately, N scale sound decoders of any brand are pretty crap. They sound okay before you install them, but because of the lack of space in N-scale rolling stock, they start sounding really bad. You get all sorts of distortion unless you find an optimal spot for the speaker, which is generally impossible to do in N-scale.

I've heard quite a few N-scale trains with sound, and even those specifically designed for sound still sound very dull and toy-like.

[Nick_Burman]

I had a Mabar N scale Renault ABJ in my hands for a while. This particular one was fitted with a ESU Loksound decoder, the sound was very good considering the tiny loudspeaker it came out of... the winding up and tick-tick-tick of the Hasler speed recorder, engine starting and stopping sequence, station announcement (in Spanish - "the train standing on platform x will take passengers to Lérida"...), conductor whistle, two-tone French-style horn...you mention it, it had it. However, all this comes at a price...

Cheers NB