I wanted to send my reply to the whole list:

-----Original Message----- 
From: Lloyd Rasmussen
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 7:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: DSTAR

I may be a curmudgeon about it,, and haven't really heard it (I don't get on
2 meters or higher anymore).  The dStar mode uses a proprietary algorithm 
that is
now some 20 years old.  These digital modes sometimes provide noise-free
operation at the cost of naturalness and intelligibility, especially when
there is background noise at the microphone.  The side channel which can
carry data while voice is transmitted has a rather low bitrate.  There are
newer audio codecs, some of which are non-proprietary, which would probably
work as well as the MELP algorithm that DStar uses.  Maybe I need to read
more about it and actually experience it to appreciate it.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 6:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DSTAR

Has anyone here worked with DSTAR? If so, what were your reactions to it? I
may be wrong, but I perceive DSTAR as being the mode of the future. Maybe
even analogous to when sideband emerged as the mode of the future over AM
back in the 1960's. What do you all think?

Ron, K8HSY