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Drums picked up lots of attitude when passed through the C2, and careful adjustment of the attack and release time controls allowed me to dial in a wide range of sounds. The compressor was equally adept at fattening individual tracks or a stereo drum submix. For adding extra edge to loops or gritty drums, the crush button is very cool.

The fact that the C2 doesn't dull the sound makes it great fit for acoustic and electric guitars. On strummed acoustic, I was able to control exactly how much pick sound I wanted with the attack control (or eliminate it completely with the 0 ms setting). I really liked the sound of the C2 on the bass as well, and was surprised to find the crush button useful yet again. Crush mode added extra growl and definition to the sound, which was perfect for some songs.

Crush mode sounds a bit like a distortion-based exciter. The effect is pronounced but usable, especially with edgier music styles. Crush tends to push an instrument forward in the mix and accomplishes much of the opening up usually done with EQ. Even lead and background vocals cut through better with the crush engaged. Breathy vocals picked up some extra wisp with crush engaged.

The C2 has a nice soft knee for ratios below 10:1, instead of a hard transition into gain reduction. This makes the compressor more transparent in one sense, while still adding character to the signal.
Overall, the C2 is very well-behaved - it doesn't add ugly compression artifacts at anything less than extreme gain reduction. Though it gives you enough control to get into trouble (especially with ultrafast attack times), it's generally easy to make this compressor sound good.

Where signal hygiene is concerned, the C2 is a class act. Its noise and distortion specs are top-notch, and I never found this compressor to have an adverse impact on the signal. At 130 dB, the C2's dynamic range exceeds that of 20-bit digital. This is analog proccessing at it's finest.

Considering the C2's cost, there are a few things I wish it delivered. The C2 could use more (and finer) steps in the ratio, attack time and release time controls. Having attack time jump from 3 ms to 10 ms to 30 ms leaves some pretty big holes and I was longing for intermediate values when dialing in some sounds.

Crush mode is a great tool; I just found myself wishing for more control. A variable crush knob, or a handful of different settings, would put this effect over the top. A link mode that summed left and right signals to the detector would also be a good addition. With the detector watching the left side only, loud sounds panned to the right will sneak through unscathed.

Summary

The Smart Research C2 is a world-class compressor with a punchy, crisp sound. It offers easy controls, use-it-on-everything versatility and impeccable sonics. Those who can afford the C2's luxuries will enjoy better tracks and tighter mixes right out of the box.

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