When digital mixers came onto the market people were struck by their features, channel count and recall capabilities. Quickly what would have cost tens of thousands of dollars in hardware was now available for a tenth of the price, not to mention that the space required to house all of this was considerably less than its analog predecessors. Instant recall of the mix and all it’s parameters saw work flows change and people felt there was no returning to analog hardware which now appeared to be outdated technology. Sound quality took a back seat to the wondrous capabilities of these new digital tools.
Overtime however the appeal of all of these features wore off as many people started to question several aspects of digital mixers. Firstly was the question of sound quality, something had been lost in the digital process. Stereo image, depth and clarity all seemed lacking compared to their analog equivalents. Much of this was due to poor A/D and D/A conversion coupled with low resolution sample rates. The reality was a great deal of the information was being lost in this process and hence this loss of information led to a reduction in sound quality.