I have had the pleasure of spending a lot of quality time with a stereo pair of FET II units and comparing them with the new FET 3.
On my product page for the Daking FET 3 I have provided clips of compressed and bypassed material in mp3 format (320k, highest quality) on individual sources and on a stereo mix here:
Daking FET 3 Compressor
(scroll down for clips, I have 24 bit files yet to be posted)
What I have concluded is:
Tone / Character:
The FET II seems ever so slightly darker and smoother, and has a bit of a low end bump from the Jensen transformers
The FET 3 seems a bit more detailed and open, and a more even response on the low end (more like what you feed it vs the FET II)
Compressor Section:
The FET 3 is capable of virtually everything the FET II is, except you can precisely dial it in with the variable pots. There is no difference in compressor action. The FET II has super long release times available with the last 2 presets it has, that is the only difference in compression available. The AUTO setting on the FET 3 is the same as the Compex release on the FET II, that's really the only difference in compression (and the ones left off the FET 3 are extremely long and more tailored for broadcast). The linking on the FET 3 is noticeably tighter.
Features:
The FET II is all switches and completely recall-able, the FET 3 is variable pots (except for the ratio select). The FET 3 features a variable high pass filter EQ on the sidechain which allows you to remove bass response from the compressor circuit and causes less pumping. The FET 3 is internally stereo linkable, and variable linking is available for interesting results (say using a kick drum to partially effect or duck a bass guitar, or just allowing a mix to spread out more). The FET II is linked with a single TRS cable between units and does not track as tightly from unit to unit (but they can be chained also for surround compression). Metering is much larger on the FET 3, both provide the same info.
Conclusion:
The FET II offers a transformer bump in the low end, and a slight smoothing effect to my ears. The FET 3 sounds more detailed and true to the source. Both offer the same compressor section except the FET 3 is completely able to be dialed in using variable pots and linking is done more accurately and internally. Also, being able to vary the linking on a stereo mix is very cool. You can achieve an interesting blend of the tight linked sound with the looseness and added life of dual mono. The small differences in tone are hardly noticeable when the box is doing its job and compressing audio, which is where it pulls the most of its character in my opinion.
War