---
product_id: 256461399
title: "266XS Dual Compressor/Gate"
brand: "dbx"
price: "A$814"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 5
category: "Dbx"
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/256461399-266xs-dual-compressor-gate
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# AutoDynamic™ attack/release for smooth, musical compression Balanced XLR & 1/4" TRS inputs/outputs for pro connectivity Dual compressor/gate for precise dynamic control 266XS Dual Compressor/Gate

**Brand:** dbx
**Price:** A$814
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 🎛️ Elevate your mix with dbx 266xs — where pro dynamics meet effortless control.

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** 266XS Dual Compressor/Gate by dbx
- **How much does it cost?** A$814 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/256461399-266xs-dual-compressor-gate)

## Best For

- dbx enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted dbx brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Seamless Integration:** Balanced XLR and 1/4" TRS connectors ensure noise-free, professional-grade signal flow.
- • **Next-Level Noise Gating:** New gate timing algorithms deliver the smoothest release, eliminating unwanted bleed with precision.
- • **Legendary dbx Reliability:** From the inventors of compression, a rugged metal chassis and proven tech that stays in your rack for years.
- • **Polish Your Sound Like a Pro:** Smooth out uneven levels and add sustain effortlessly with patented Overeasy compression technology.
- • **Versatile Dual Mode Operation:** Switch between stereo or dual-mono modes to tailor your setup for any live or studio environment.

## Overview

The dbx 266xs Dual Compressor/Gate is a professional-grade analog signal processor designed to smooth uneven audio levels, add sustain, and tighten mixes. Featuring patented Overeasy compression and AutoDynamic™ attack/release controls, it offers smooth, musical dynamics control. With balanced XLR and 1/4" TRS inputs/outputs and versatile stereo or dual-mono operation, it integrates seamlessly into live or studio setups. Its advanced gate timing algorithms ensure clean noise gating, making it a reliable, budget-friendly choice trusted by audio professionals worldwide.

## Description

Adding a dbx 266xs Compressor/Limiter/Gate to your live sound rig or studio gives you more dynamic control to help create a more polished, professional sound. Having compression in your audio chain gives you the ability to smooth out uneven levels, add sustain to guitars and fatten up your drums. It also makes it easy to bring vocals to the front of your mix - adding greater clarity and making them stand out from the surrounding instruments.dbx knows compressors...after all we invented them! The 266xs is the latest in a long line of the world's most successful compressors from the inventors of the technology. Its patented Overeasy compression technology provides smooth and musical performance while the AutoDynamic™ attack and release controls, found only on dbx compressors, puts great sound within easy reach. The 166xs can operate in stereo or dual-mono modes, has true RMS power summing and features quality XLR and 1/4" TRS inputs and outputs.

Review: Gate works well for very quite bleed not so much for average bleed, the compressor works well and transparent. No complaints about the build quality it feels more expensive than it is. Overall a good buy a better compressor would be 3 times the price and I would probably question the build quality of those. For a budget starter compressor a definite buy (if you know how to use compressors and gates). You can hear the DBX 160 sound (when pushed) that you get in the Plugin versions of DBX. Nothing to write home about but for a first compressor, it is a bargain from a big name in the industry and likely to stay in the rack even after buying more expensive gear.
Review: Recomendable buen equipo buen producto tiene una fidelidad de audio tremendo son bueno llego antes de la fecha mencionada

## Features

- Error proof operation to smooth uneven levels, add sustain to guitars, fatten drums or tighten up mixes
- Great sounding dynamics control for any type of program material
- Balanced inputs and outputs on 1/4" trs and xlr
- New gate timing algorithms ensure the smoothest release characteristics
- Classic dbx "auto" mode

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B004NDFRVC |
| Color Name | Silver |
| Connector Type | XLR and 1/4" TRS |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (392) |
| Date First Available | 6 August 2012 |
| Hardware Interface | 1/4-inch Audio |
| Hardware Platform | CONSUMER_ELECTRONICS |
| Item Weight | 2.99 Kilograms |
| Item model number | DBX266XSV |
| Material Type | Metal |
| Power Source | Corded Electric |
| Product Dimensions | 48.26 x 14.61 x 4.45 cm; 2.99 kg |
| Signal Format | Analog |
| Size | 1.75 x 5.75 x 19.00 inches |
| Voltage | 9 Volts |

## Product Details

- **Brand:** DBX
- **Colour:** Silver
- **Item weight:** 2.99 kg
- **Product dimensions:** 14.6L x 48.3W x 4.4H centimeters
- **Style:** 266xs

## Images

![266XS Dual Compressor/Gate - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510m3XxQwqL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Style** options.

## Questions & Answers

**Q: How would I connect a scarlett 2i2 to this?**
A: Question: what is a scarlet 2i2???

**Q: im new at this and i have question about the button on the back that says operating level, what  level do you use +4db or -10db and why**
A: Consumer grade audio equipment and computer sound cards typically have line inputs which run at -10 db.  Professional grade equipment like the dbx 286s can output line levels in the range -10 to +4 db.  The 286s can output any signal level in that range.  The switch on the back is provided so that the 286s can be connected to consumer grade equipment without damaging the driven device.  Please note: Applying  a +4 db audio output into a -10 db audio input could cause damage to the input device.  Care should be exercised whenever connecting professional grade equipment to consumer grade equipment.  This information is also covered in the dbx 286s user manual.

**Q: can it be used with the 286s mic preamp from dbx**
A: The compressor has inserts and XLR connectors in/out and you could probably chain any other rack gear to the 266xs.I am not really familiar with the 286s mic preamp but I am sure there is a way to use it.I have to say this dbx 266xs is a really nice compressor and very easy to use.

**Q: Can i run unbalanced in and xlr out, or do i need to run balanced in if i want balanced out?  thanks**
A: You can run unbalanced in, though there is a higher chance of noise in the system,  I do not recall if there are XLR output connections, if there are jacks for XLR then yes you can run unblance in and XLR out.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by N***E on 24 March 2021*

Gate works well for very quite bleed not so much for average bleed, the compressor works well and transparent. No complaints about the build quality it feels more expensive than it is. Overall a good buy a better compressor would be 3 times the price and I would probably question the build quality of those. For a budget starter compressor a definite buy (if you know how to use compressors and gates). You can hear the DBX 160 sound (when pushed) that you get in the Plugin versions of DBX. Nothing to write home about but for a first compressor, it is a bargain from a big name in the industry and likely to stay in the rack even after buying more expensive gear.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by D***. on 10 October 2023*

Recomendable buen equipo buen producto tiene una fidelidad de audio tremendo son bueno llego antes de la fecha mencionada

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by J***O on 11 December 2015*

These compressors work very well. My application is probably not the usual one because I'm not using these for recording or studio work, although I can see how they'd be excellent, especially for digital recording where you absolutely must prevent clipping in the recording process. In my case, I got tired of never being able to understand the quiet dialog when watching TV or movies at home without setting the listening levels so high that it was annoying during the loud scenes. This is related to why I never go out to see movies at a movie theater. When you need hearing protection to avoid hearing damage, that's not my idea of entertainment, and certainly not entertainment I have to pay for! With some custom built cables, I connected one of these units between the audio outputs of our TV and one set of inputs to our receiver while allowing the "straight" TV Outs to feed another input pair on the receiver. When watching shows that are already highly compressed, we can switch to the "straight TV" inputs, but when watching many movies, and lots of newer TV shows, we can switch to the "compressed TV" inputs and enjoy being able to hear and understand the quietest dialog while preserving our hearing during the loud scenes. Of course, you may still need to use the closed captioning to decipher the "English" spoken during many BBC productions, but the compression does help there, too! ;) In this application, I am not using the downward expansion (noise gating) at all because noise reduction in the quiet parts is not really needed. I am using the "over-easy" function, and the automatic setting of the attack and release time constants, and find that all to work very well, keeping the sound quite natural despite the fairly heavy-handed compression I have dialed in. In addition, the ability to link the two channels so that the RMS sum of the signal levels into the two channels determines the compression applied to both channels simultaneously is very handy, and I have that engaged as well. My wife and I really are enjoying this setup and it's made our TV viewing much more pleasurable. I'm using a second one of these compressors to process the audio from a police scanner to bring the quiet talkers' voice levels way up so they can be heard while keeping the normal and loud talkers from blasting our ears off. That signal, too, can be selected as one of the inputs to the receiver. Without the compression, it would be downright dangerous to feed the audio from such a source into a good audio system for fear of what kinds of horrible noises might be fed, at high power, through your "good" speakers. Again, for this channel, I am using the automatic attack/release timing switch, which seems to work very well, choosing the right attack and release time constants to make for good intelligibility without pumping or subjecting us to bursts of loud noise. It's very tame, indeed. And as with the TV system, I am not using the downward expansion/noise gating function. When the radios are unkeyed, the output is pretty much silent anyhow. In this scanner system, I am not using the "over-easy" function because I want a sharper cut-off transition to really bring up the very soft talkers while holding the loud sounds (Plectron alerts and the like) down to sane levels. This source doesn't need to sound "natural". In general, I'm not a huge fan of compression of music during playback. I want to hear the full dynamic range that the orchestra conductor and recording engineer wanted me to hear. But then, when I listen to music, it's under controlled conditions, in a quiet room, and I am free to turn things up to whatever level I prefer. However, I can see how some compression might be handy for such cases as listening in a car, where you've already got 75dB or so of road noise to overcome, or during a party or get-together where people will want to hold conversations, yet might want some background music. And, of course, for recording, particularly live performances where the artists may get a bit over-enthusiastic during the real performance and play louder than they did during reherasals/sound checks, I can see where having some compression set up could really save the day and prevent a recording from being totally spoiled. Not to mention the obvious guitar sustain or other effects possible with a compressor. Anyhow, I've been running these for a month and a half, and have had no problems or issues of any sort. They've been reliable so far, and perform the functions I need quite well. And I felt that the price was quite reasonable for what you get. The controls feel solid, the build looks very nice, the connectors seem reliable, etc. And the various displays are very handy for setting levels and knowing where you're at. This unit seems like a solid, well thought-out design.

## Frequently Bought Together

- dbx 266xs Professional Audio Compressor/Gate Dynamic Effects Processor with Sidechain Insert. For Portable, Tour, Studio. 1U Single Rack Space, Silver
- Cable Matters 2-Pack Premium Short XLR to XLR Cables - 3ft, Male to Female Microphone Cable, Oxygen-Free Copper (OFC) Mic Cord, Black
- dbx 231s Dual Channel 31-Band Equalizer

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*Product available on Desertcart Australia*
*Store origin: AU*
*Last updated: 2026-03-01*