S vs C

[Mr.XParticipant]

Is there any difference in the audio between these 2 dLive series? That is to say, are the differences only in features and is the sound quality exactly the same between the C and S series boxes?

[ThatComplicatedMidiGuyParticipant]

Shouldn’t be. The brain is the same on both kinds of rack unit. The only *real* difference between S and c class mixracks, are that you get 2nd/redundant gigaAce port, hot-swappable PSU, and extra IO slots IIRC. Same basic difference on the control surfaces if I’m not mistaken.

[Mr-BParticipant]

You are indeed correct, redundancy,power supplies and network expansion ports.
Can’t remember if there is a difference in the fixed I/O on the surfaces.

[SteffenRParticipant]

more fixed I/O on S-class
and more encoders in the EQ section and a full equipped input section (gain and filters with dedicated control)
and more user buttons

[Jens-DroesslerParticipant]

If you’re worried about sound and you understand the dLive concept the question you should ask needs to be about the difference between DM and CDM stage racks. They have the AD converters and back, they process everything and they fully work even if the surface gets disconnected. Processing is identical on CDM and DM. I don’t know about the AD converters and preamps. DM sure offers more expansion options and redundancy with surface connection and power supply.

[Mr.XParticipant]

Thank you for your replies!

Ok, so in trying to ask the correct question: are the Preamps and AD converters on the CDM and DM identical?

Bonus question: Can any S/C console connect and operate any CDM/DM Mixrack?

[SteffenRParticipant]

all devices are fully compatible

[ArtParticipant]

Ok, so in trying to ask the correct question: are the Preamps and AD converters on the CDM and DM identical?

Bonus question: Can any S/C console connect and operate any CDM/DM Mixrack?

Yes and yes.

[Jens-DroesslerParticipant]

Yes, C-Class surfaces will work on DM Mixracks and S-Class surfaces will work on CDM Mixracks, with the exception of redundant network connection between surface and mixrack. That’s S-Class/DM exclusive out of the box or needs to be done by adding GigaACE extension cards.

[Mr.XParticipant]

Anyone regret getting the C class instead of the S class? There’s a considerable price difference for what seems like small surface/redundancy differences.

[BiggsoundsParticipant]

I currently own 3 DM racks, 2 S (5000/7000) series consoles and a C1500, I’m looking at changing out one of our DM32 racks for a CDM simply to drop the weight for fly shows (I can fly a DM32, but it doesn’t allow for a lot else in the pack, where I can get the same I/O count on a CDM32 5kgs lighter, and a smaller unit means I can also use a smaller pelican dropping the weight again. I’ve found no performance difference between surfaces, only workflow (and after using the C1500 quite a lot I’ve got all my workflow stuff down anyway – I use the soft keys & an IP8 for DCAs etc & it’s all pretty easy from there).

[ArtParticipant]

Anyone regret getting the C class instead of the S class? There’s a considerable price difference for what seems like small surface/redundancy differences.

The only thing I now miss is the extra card slots in the S-class mixrack that the C-Class doesn’t have. Right now, that’s populated with my Waves card. But if I want to run an SQ for monitors, I’ll need to put a GigaAce card in that slot and move my Waves card to my surface. Not a biggie. But a change.

[Mr.XParticipant]

Thank you both.

So what changes when you move a card from the MixRack to the surface?

[JayParticipant]

Mr X,

Audio wise, there is no difference in the slots. They are all 128×128 and fully patchable in the system. Redundancy risk in C without dual links/power.

If you are running GigaAce on the surface (is that allowed?), then you are sharing the network bandwidth of both consoles through the primary GigaAce.

I’ve also taken the stance that if the surface were to die, I could continue the show on a laptop/ipad, but any audio through the surface is lost.

Jay

[ArtParticipant]

So what changes when you move a card from the MixRack to the surface?

Other that what Jay said, above, I’d need to reprogram the I/O telling it that the Waves card resides in the surface now instead of the mixrack.

Art

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