I knew someone (likely you,
Brad) would have the counterargument, which is why I said "in most cases." Of course you are correct, but I would say 90% of installations will not benefit from a digital
snake. Another 5% will
settle on copper after they see the price tag, and the remaining 5% actually have the budget to be considering it in the first place.
It's really just supporting that it is situational. Probably the majority of my projects over the last couple of years have utilized some form of digital
snake, be it as part of the
console or via networked audio such as Cobranet, EtherSound and Dante or
Crestron's DigitalMedia systems for AV.
In one case the decision was due to the existing infrastructure, the cost difference for a
console that utilized a digital
snake was much less than the cost of ripping up the floors to add additional cabling paths that would have otherwise been required to the
FOH location. In another it was a cost effective way to support the user's desire of being able to have the
console at any one of several different locations. I would simply say to not dismiss copper or digital snakes without first considering how either may affect both the overall goals and the overall costs.
An anecdote, a few years ago I sat in on a talk
led by a representative from a
speaker manufacturer that is very popular in the
theatre world. During his presentation he made the assertion that fiber was the future and that anyone recommending copper, regardless of whether for analog, digital or networked audio, was doing a disservice. Maybe that was appropriate for the type of clients and venues he routinely dealt with but it was, and still is, definitely not applicable to most users and venues. Based on some discussion later that night, that comment left the impression with many of those in attendance that this manufacturer was rather out of touch with the market they were trying to adddress in that presentation. Simply a good example of a generalization that really should be assessed based on the specifics of each application.