The Digital/Analog Debate
by Bryan Cole
I almost titled this “sparring with signal path…” The sides of this debate are both pretty set in their views, and much like sports rivals, the viewpoints expressed by each side can be, shall we say, very impassioned!
In my world, I almost exclusively place digital consoles, due to the amount of processing and routing that is available at the digital price point. We are now seeing small format digital consoles selling at the cost of their analog brethren – and since I’m always searching for value, Digital often shows up as the value leader. Value takes so many things into account; Price, usability, durability, sonic quality, environment, etc. If you choose one of those things and make it the supreme goal, you may very well come out with an all analog signal chain as a requirement – it’s not always a “cut and dry” sonic decision.