Having reacquired recently a pinball 2k machine, and having owned newer pins the last few years, I forgot how dynamic and rich the dcs sound systems are on the pin 2k systems. Frankly, I’d put it up there or over most modern pins. Do you agree? If so, why wasn’t this system or something similar used in modern pins?

I have to also note that the engineering of pin 2k as it related to part swapping, diagnostics, and for multiple other things like playfield swapping is superior in most ways. It really is a shame this platform was killed, it really is great and was ahead of its time. In some ways I’m glad the smaller playfield concept didn’t catch on, but otherwise I’m really enjoying owning a 2k platform again.

I guess that's why I posted the thread and am asking the question. 20+ years ago, for what ever factors these 2k machines had (and have) amazing sound comparatively. Thoughts on pinsound etc.? I've been debating an upgrade to my Iron Maiden for awhile, do these speaker upgrades etc. bring out a better sound or is the fundamental issue the source material?

I always assumed this was either the format or compression used in these files. Mid 2000 era pins (sound wise) are horrible.....

Fair enough. Perhaps the question Im really asking is not 'why don't we still use DCS' but rather 'given the technology jumps etc. why is DCS sound still relatively better than current pinball sound, on average, out of the box'. What your saying makes sense to me.

In short: stop cheeping out on the sound, pinball manufacturers. You're fucking with my immersion and looking bad next to a 20 year old machine.