Oxford Limiter can't do loud. It was designed during a period where devs wanted to get a distortion-free sound even when pushed hard. So when pushedX it starts to sound soft. This is a big disadvantage nowadays. Pro-L or Ozone can do the soft sound of Oxford, but the other way around doesn't happen (Oxford to get edgy).

The enhance thingy it's NOT inflator-like. There's a detailed post on GS where Paul Frindle himself explains the differences between these concepts.

 

Could you please link the post? I'm always been curious about how it works

 

1. JS Inflator is a copy of Sonox Inflator.
Runs in double precision 64-bit internal processing.
Also double precision input / output if supported.

Free: https://github.com/Kiriki-liszt/JS_Inflator

JS Inflator Free "Copy Of Oxford Inflator" Good or Garbage?

2. What is ZL Inflator?

It’s a clone of the legendary Sonnox Inflator, a plugin that’s been a go-to for top engineers and producers for decades.
Free: https://itbblog.com/free-inflator/ & https://github.com/ZL-Audio/ZLInflator

 

Last edited: Jul 11, 2025 at 3:24 PM

This is one of them - https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.php?p=1273084&postcount=18

 

I dont know how old is this video but JS inflator now has a band split option. Anyway it is just a VST3 port of the JClones_Oinflater which comes free with Reaper.
And something the guy didnt try is a null test. I did and JS nulls with Oxford, as long as the oversampling isnt engaged. The JClones plug in also nulls (and doesnt have OS feature).

 

I know this is an old thread, but i figure this could be useful to someone if they're considering buying the Sonnox Oxford Limiter v4.

I bought it for $29, and upon shooting it out against a bunch of other Limiters (L2, Limitless, Barricade, Smart Limiter, etc.) I was genuinely shocked by how bad it was.

I shouldn't say it's bad in every way, but it falls apart when doing any more than 3dB of gain reduction on transient heavy material, even when messing with all of the settings.

Pro L2 is MILES ahead of Oxford Limiter in terms of transparency and ability to do high amounts of clean gain reduction on transients while still maintaining the original character of the transients.

I dont like doing upwards of 6dB of gain reduction when limiting, but clients send me stuff to master with the drums very poorly controlled in terms of dynamics, and that's what's gonna end up being limited first.

2 Pro L2s in series on a master sounds better than any other limiter I've tried. Don't think I'd let Oxford Limiter touch my mastering chain.

 

My take on limiters :

L2 : do it all fine BUT lacks "personality" to my taste
Elephant : to get that low mids "analog" like sound (beware to have a clean mix upfront)
Loudmax : free, neutral and working for most ppl with a single setting : threshold

I think L2 is a good work horse for ppl needing several algos. But it add a layer of complexity.
Elephant is a special beast with enough choice BUT less transparent by nature : it is more an "analog like" limiter.
Loudmax is simple, free, transparent and straight to the point.

If you make dance music, you may add a free "OTT like" multiband before limiter
OTT Xfer Records
Squash Minimal Audio
...

If you don't know were to start ... free OTT + loudmax after it.
good music !

 

Oxford Limiter can still be relevant in 2025 if you do not only want it for your master bus limiting, and also make music where you like the sound of it. If all you are worried about is clean, transparent and loud as possible, I'm still going to DMG Limitless. Oxford Limiter has never really been intended to be Inflator by Sonnox, because why sell you 1 plugin when they can sell you two?

The real reason I would not buy Oxford Limiter, or any other Sonnox plugins right now; is because certain things have changed when it comes to the Mac side of things. It would not surprise me at all to see them quietly show up somewhere. And apparently, that is all it takes for things to magically show up about 15 minutes later for Windows. I can still think of a lot of other plugins that I would uninstall before it.