Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1178376
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y F A L L 2 0 1 9 25 Tech Review: Lectrosonics DSQD (D2) T E C H N I C A L L Y S P E A K I N G INTRODUCTION In the interest of full disclosure, I just want to mention that I am currently an owner and an early beta tester of the Lectrosonics DSQD receiver. This four-channel, digital receiver is compatible with a whole slew of new Lectrosonics digital transmitters, as well as legacy transmitters that production sound mixers of all stripes are using. Getting my hands on this unit early was very exciting and very rewarding. Two rules applied to beta testing it: I had to keep quiet about it and I had to try to break it. I was fairly successful on the quiet part. The only challenge was I had to let some of my assistants peek at the unit in order to enlist their help with the walk tests. However, I was not successful in trying to break it—as hard as I tried. I didn't drop it on concrete or anything like that (I'll let The Fanatics do that themselves for their YouTube videos), but I did try to "hotbox" it inside sound bags. I tried to test its physical limits in regard to rough truck transportation and aggressive handling and unabashed interfacing and menu navigation. Essentially, I didn't treat the unit like I treat my own equipment. It's defi nitely keeping constant to Lectrosonics' reputation that their products aren't at all "fragile." The build quality is just one of the many perks of this unit. The others are the practicality of its channel count, its physical space and size factors, compatibility in frequency bands (the whole legal spectrum), and compatibility in transmitter usability. Something obvious Lectrosonics was keeping in mind while they designed this unit was their longtime users. It's a phenomenal way to upgrade your receiver package! For less than the price of four channels' worth of Venue 2 channels, and about the same (if not a little bit less) than the price of two SRC's equaling four channels, you get this robust and versatile unit that can tune all of your transmitters and then some, right out of the box. COMPATIBILILT Y MODES The DSQD has, basically, all the compatibility modes. There are practically no transmitters from the last two decades left behind. Challenging even with all of this recent ETSI compliant, post October 2018 drama. If it's a Lectrosonics digital hybrid-anything or later, the DSQD can receive it. One of the fi rst things you would need to set is the compatibility mode. When pulling this up in the menu, you will see: Digital or "D2," DUET CH1, DUET CH2, NA HYB (for legacy digital hybrid transmitters with 75 kHz deviation), EU HYB (for European digital hybrid transmitters), practically the same mode just under a different name is NU HYB for current (post ETSI compliant transmitters with 50 kHz deviation), and JA HYB for Japanese digital hybrid transmitters. Scanning on the DSQD b y D e v e n d r a C l e a r y C A S SCANNING Scanning is impressive with the full display and even better when zooming. There are some improvements coming to the scanning workfl ow that will put this unit more in line with a routine that may be more customary when using Venue 1 and 2 units, SR's, and 411a's. The DSQD has a grouped approach which works well, but more options are on the way. What I like about this