Has anybody done any a/b testing with using the axient digital dante vs preamps in on the dlive?
The question isn’t “which preamp sounds better” because you don’t have a choice in which one you use. The only choice you have is do you only use the Axient preamp, or do you use the Axient preamp AND the DLive preamp. You are going to use the Axient Preamps in any/every configuration.
If you use the Dante connection, the signal remains in a digital form after the Axient preamps and into the DLive console. This means there is just one A/D conversion in the signal chain.
So… Axient Preamp → conversion to digital → Axient system → Dante Nework → DLive system
On the other hand, if you don’t use Dante to connect the Axient system to the DLive and instead use the analog XLR connections, then you are ALSO going to use the DLive preamps. The Axient system will use it’s built in preamps, and will have a A->D and D->A conversion, outputing the signal in analog form. You will then use the DLive preamps to convert this analog signal back to a digital signal.
So… Axient Preamp → conversion to digital → Axient system → conversion to analog → DLive preamp → conversion to digital → DLive system
Less conversions is almost always better. Consider you have added latency as well. Just using Dante alone on Shure systems lowers the output latency. Obviously D-Live latency is small but all these things add up in a system.