Hmm @Moderation: is tbhis the right forum for that topic? Please feel free to move that post to the right place if necessary.
I would suggest for next generation of digital stageboxes to integrate DI Box functionality.
In analog times, Preamps where at the Mixing desk and stageboxes likely were grounded over the multicore at the Mixer end. Since unbalanced lines should be as short as possible it made Sense to integrate ground lift and symmetrization of signals on stage near the sources – so the DI Box was the right tool for that.
Today, Preamps and A/D Converters went to the stagebox, located on stage, separate from the Mixer. It is much more common to have smaller Stageboxes distributed nearer to signal sources and connect them with Digicores instead of a single central 48 XLR Input Monster with long XLR Cables to the Instruments.
So it would be more comfortable to do symmetrization and ground lifting in the stagebox itself with central control from the mixer desk. Especially in the smaller ones like AR84 since they may be integrated into Synth or wireless receiver racks. maybe by using the phone plug part of combo Jacks so the XLR ins keep symmetric and the phone plugs are dedicated to unsymmetric line signals.
