My two cents

I use an NCE power cab along with a Cab06 and connected to JMRI so guests can run a train with an old cell phone. It seems intuitive to most people nowadays. The Cab doesn’t look as intimidating as the hammerhead so those with some experience running trains are drawn to it. Either can configure a Bachmann On30 engine to react in neat ways that simulate inertia, momentum, drifting, and braking. The normal other functions can be configured to either throttle as well so bell, whistle, cylinder cocks, blow down, etc can be triggered easily.  

Some of my engines are powered via batteries in the tender and have wireless receivers and throttles. At this point it is a side hobby and not for the faint of heart. 

"I picked up a couple of On30

  DCC engines should work fine with any DCC system. The main difference among the brands is the throttle style and feel . Best way to know what you'd like best is to go to a club open house or a train show or hobby shop and see how the various brands feel in your hand. ....DaveB

Questions without an answer?

DaveB makes a good point (as he often does). Run various systems to see what works best for you.

Choices in DCC systems are like favorite pickup truck brands, religions or political affiliations; everyone has one and everyone thinks theirs is the 'right' one.

Going into this with no prejudice (as I was new to the hobby after returning from several years away, and finding DCC was no longer a "You have to build it all yourself" kind of thing anymore), I ran on layouts with different systems. In the end, one really jumped out to me as the most user-friendly.

I use the MRC Prodigy Express. It was the system I liked the most on all the ones I'd used on others' layouts, so I went looking for one. As luck would have it, I bought an entire system new in the box for a very good discount (and found another one, for an incredibly huge discount, so affordable I bought it for a spare and the extra controller, just in case, the price was that good).

All my locos are Bachmann (4 On30 ten-wheelers, one Whitcomb and one 'trench' 2-6-2T) and this system works great with them all.

All systems

I'm using Digitrax, but I'd suspect any dcc system would be ok. 

Simon

Consisting is the key for me

For me as a modern era diesel modeler, consisting is the key. By modern era I simply mean I run all diesels and almost no steam to speak of.

I have used Lenz, EasyDCC, and NCE personally. I also was loaned an MRC Prodigy Advanced system to play with for several months. And finally, I also run on a lot of layouts that use Digitrax.

DOUBLE ENDED CONSISTS
For me, I want double-ended consists. In other words, when I select the loco number at the end of the consist, that becomes the front and forward behaves as I expect, and when I turn on the headlight, blow the horn, ring the bell, it’s the front unit that responds. If I select the loco number at the other end, then that becomes the front and the lights, horn, and bell respond to that end. Also, if I want to drop or add a loco to/from the consist, that’s easy to do.

One way in the past to get this behavior has been to create a command station consist going one direction and a CV19 decoder consist going the other direction. Modern decoders have added consist function mapping, which helps get the lights, horn, and bell behavior I seek — if you’re willing to fiddle with decoder CVs.

NCE
NCE added double ended consisting built in to their system about 15 years ago and it works wonderfully. A dream come true. With NCE I can easily add or remove a single loco from a consist. NCE also lets me choose a command station or a CV19 decoder (Advanced) consist during setup. Very nice.

LENZ
Lenz consisting has always been awkward at best, requiring a lot of keystrokes to set up. They don’t do double ended consists at all like NCE does.

EASYDCC
EasyDCC used to allow a lot of flexibility in consisting, allowing the double layer trick of command station consist and CV19 decoder consisting easily. About 15 years ago, the programmers clamped down on double layer consisting, making it a disallowed operation from the command station. This forced a lot of direct CV programming in order to trick the command station, which made it a lot more painful.

MRC
The MRC Prodigy Advanced System was not bad, allowing me to choose either a command station consist or a CV19 decoder consist while setting up the consist. However, if I wanted to remove a single loco from the consist, I could not do that. I had to delete the entire consist and then build it again missing the one loco I wanted to remove. Not great.

DIGITRAX
Digitrax does not support CV19 consisting from the command station unless you change an OP switch setting. They default to all command station consisting, which means each loco you add to a consist increases the command traffic on the rails to keep all the locos in sync. You don’t get a choice — it’s one or the other, not both. Once you set the OPs switch, that’s it. All command station consisting, or all advanced (CV19) consisting. Digitrax, IMO, has the least flexible consisting of all the DCC systems.

CONCLUSION
For my money, NCE has the best consisting of all the DCC systems, and that’s a real distinguisher if you do diesel lashups like I do. Other than consisting, most of the DCC systems are equally good. Lenz has the weakest wireless throttle solution, however.