Introduction and request for advice

[mostapha]

All digital mixers have a lower noise floor and can easily have lower THD if they didn't totally skimp on the converters.

And the db2 and db4 are good mixers. I just don't think they're worth the price difference considering how quiet the xone 62 and 92 are anyway. Others could easily decide differently.

And as far as analog warmth goes……uhh…xones have an exaggerated midrange that sounds like xones…but it's really subtle. IMHO, digital mixers sound better…and I've heard some of the best analog gear money can buy (2 SSL consoles, neve and API preamps, urei, neve, tectronix, etc. compressors, tube-tech and other eqs, etc.…plus, I used to own a xone:62). There are a few things analog stuff does well (tape saturation, tube distortion) but mostly people are just used to hearing the types of distortion that come from running analog gear too hot and the distortion that comes from running a digital signal too hot doesn't sound the same.

And I'm not even talking about clipping…just too hot for the math behind the processing that's happening. Part of the reason is that people don't get digital audio. 32 bit floating point audio has like 1700 dB dynamic range…which is what Pro Tools, Ableton, and Traktor use…and that's with full-spectrum white noise, not real audio…so in practice, it's probably even more. The DB4 isn't quite that ridiculous, but its noise floor is still quieter than any analog gear that's ever been made.

And people are still pegging the fuck out of clip lights for no reason, which screws up the math behind the processing, since a lot of it still needs head room to operate.