16 Channel Mixer… Questions and Concerns about dig mixer in chain
Hey guys, I have a nice audiophile system in my home studio that I’m currently running through my Presonus Studiolive 16 channel mixer. I run everything (tt, mic’d guitar amps, computer, UAD interface, mic pre’s, tt preamps, etc) into the my mixer and then the mixer has balanced main outs to yamaha powered studio monitors on one side of the room and I send line out from mixer to my power amps inputs on the hi fi system on the other side of the room. When I’m listening to music I use the yamahas as back fill and when I’m on the other side of the room I’m using my hi fi system as a back fill. So the mixer is the hub because I’m doing studio stuff in addition to the hi fi stuff and I like to be able to have use of both systems simultaneously.
I guess my question is around the fact that I’m running awesome hi fi preamps into a relatively inexpensive $500 Presonus Studiolive 16.0.2 mixer that is digital. I wonder if its downgrading my signal from my Audio Research tube preamp. Anyone have any feedback on this situation? I wonder if going to s $500-1000 all analog 16 channel mixer would givd me more fidelity that I may be giving up.
You'll get the color from the preamp, but you are definitely taking your own path when it comes to reproduction. The answer to your question varies a great deal by the quality of the mixer, more so than the type. Get some cheap Peavey's or Behringers in there and you wont' be able to stand your set up anymore, digital or otherwise. I think it's worth it for you to think about your hobby and how you enjoy it. At some point in your life though you'll get sick of all the cables. :)
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@erik_squires here are the specs on my mixer in case anyone is knowledgeable about these and could give some feedback :) https://legacy.presonus.com/products/StudioLive-16.0.2/tech-specs |
@lewm I’m kind of thinking this is correct. Based on the specs the mixer digital audio is far from lossless at 48khz. This should be a perceivable downgrade from analog signal and who knows how good or accurate the DAC is. I’m thinking to ditch the mixer and just keep the higher quality sourced audio on the hi-fi system side. |
Get a Lynx Hilo. It is a DAC, ADX and mixer, a very high quality one. It is also a commercial device used in many studios. I have one in my HiFi and am totally pleased with it. It does not have 16 channels, but it does not sound like you need 16. If you do you can run the 16 channel mixer into the Hilo (pronounced He-Low) |
