Analogue versus Spdif

Stevie-J · December 13, 2022 at 12:47 AM

I’m trying to record my band using a focus rite scarlet 18i20 - this has 8 inputs

in an effort to give the drummer his ridiculous number of mics I though I could push my guitar through the spdif - thus maintaining a nice stereo image and saving 2 channels.

However there seems a big difference in sound using spdif versus panned analogue. The gain seems less and overall the sound more “brittle” and less “musical”

is there some black magic setting I might be missing - I’m completely new to spdif output - running on 48k locked - kemper in charge (other settings seemed to have pop and random farts)

is 96 k Better quality / wider ?

what might I be doing wrong

I even read the manual a bit

appreciate any help

GearJocke · December 13, 2022 at 1:20 AM

There is no difference and should give the same result with spdif vs analog. 96k won't give you a better sound nor quality. Only much bigger files. What cables do you use for spdif?

Finally · December 13, 2022 at 1:53 AM

Great call on the cables. That would be my first suspect too.

Stevie-J · December 13, 2022 at 1:55 AM

I have a 75ohm reasonable quality cable. Thanks for the reply - poss saved me from buying extra hardware / knee jerk

still feels like sound is different tho.

lightbox · December 13, 2022 at 11:28 AM

Just to be sure, you have selected "Master Stereo" for the S/PDIF output in the OUTPUT menu?

Stevie-J · December 14, 2022 at 10:03 AM

Not sure. I’ll check. Thanks. Also got a spare cable and will A/B the digital versus analogue for sanity

HankLinderman · December 17, 2022 at 2:31 AM

There is the possibility of slightly lower latency via spdif since you'll be skipping 2 conversions. I heard no difference between analog and spdif on my rigs, but I swear the digital was faster...

Best...H

Stevie-J · December 27, 2022 at 8:07 PM

Rookie error - Had wrong S/PDIF output in the OUTPUT menu - Thanks Lightbox!