Review: Allen and Heath dLive

Allen and Heath dLive Review 2024, the best high end console for Church, Theater, Schools and Event Spaces.

Overview of the dLive

dLive Desk Features, Specs and Applications

dLive is a 128 channel / 64 buss configurable mixer platform featuring a 96kHz XCVI FPGA engine with class-leading 0.7ms latency plus add-on processing from dLive mixing system.

dLive is a modular system, with distinguished surfaces, mix rack components, extensions, and options. For this review, we used a Allen and Heath dLIve DM0, paired with a S5000 surface, and 2 Dante cards.

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Allen and Heath dLive Features:

• 96kHz FPGA Processing

• 128 Input Channels

• 64 Bus

• Fully Configurable Mix Architecture

• Endless processing capabilities

• 12 RackExtra FX slots with dedicated stereo returns

• Two 128×128 I/O Ports for Audio Networking

• Range of Remote Expanders

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History of dLive, and My Usage

Since coming on the market, The Allen and Heath dLive has been a force in the Digital Console market. The flexibility of the system makes it an ideal candidate for diverse use cases including Large Churches, High end Music Venuses / Bars, Large Event Spaces, Stadiums, and Medium to Large Touring Gigs. I am a strong advocate for the Allen and Heath lineup, including Avanits and dLive systems. Most of my YouTube channel content is focused on the dLive or dLIve. Having installed, mixed on, and trained hundreds of people how to use the dLive, I feel comfortable now sharing my thoughts on the dLive.

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General Usage

With the versatility of the concept of a live event, summarizing how the dLive would work for most people is a somewhat daunting feat. For the purposes of this review, I will highlight the feature sets that most people use.

Pre-Amps

The dLive operates at 96khz, which for the non-technically astute, means the desk is capable of high-fidelity audio, and more importantly, better than most of its peers, especially at this price point. The Pre-Amp UI is available to the operator on the left screen after selecting the corresponding channel’s select button. Within the pre-amp screen, you can set the Gain and Digital Trim. The gain can also be controlled via a hardware encoder on the desk. The desk also comes with a pre-amp library to model specific sonic signatures on the desk. I found the pre-amp models to be noisy, and not to sound very good. I spoke with an Allen and Heath rep about the problem, and they simply informed me I was using them wrong. The usage couldn’t be simpler, so perhaps there is more to discover. After years of weekly usage though, I’ve still not found a situation where I like the pre-amp models. Somewhat of a disappointment.

The desk is capable of operating entirely from inputs over the expansion card slots, such as Dante. I found the capabilities of the Digital Trim to be particularly useful in this application. You can also easily connect networked Allen and Heath desks to each other using the Tie Lines routing feature set.

Filters

Moving through the processing section, the dLive includes a high and low pass filter, with an adjustable curve for the high pass filter, which is a very nice touch. I found the filters to be somewhat frustrating, as in some situations, I found myself unable to aggressively cut low end quick enough without also cutting desired information from the source. This can be remedied, but I would like to see Allen and Heath add additional filters with a more aggressive roll off. I also found the limit for the movement of the filters to be frustrating, with upper limits for the high pass and lower limits for the low pass.

EQ

The sound engineer’s Swiss army knife, the equalization capabilities of the desk are easy to use, intuitive, and get the job done. While I prefer the EQ setups on competitors such as the Yamaha QL5 due to optionality with the flavor of EQs offered, and the ability to get razor precise with Q and positioning, in general I find the ability to use either encoders (hardware knobs) or the touchscreen interface to adjust the EQ to be more than effective. I do want the ability to more finely adjust EQ settings, as I prefer very specific frequencies for the drums, and I often fight the encoder to land where I like to be.

Compression

The compression tab of the processing workflow offers great functionality, including several features not found on other desks outside of the Allen and Heath ecosystem. In the compression pane, the desk offers the capability to filter out frequencies that trigger the compressor, right from the compression UI. In addition, several compressor software models are available, although some are not able used without a paid software upgrade. In my ex The out of the box compressor works as expected with standard controls adjustable by encoder or touchscreen.

One exceptional feature set available on the dLive is the ability to run in-line parallel compression right from the compression screen. With no limit to the number of channels that can take advantage of this feature set, this is a differentiator for the dLive, and at this price point places the desk well in the lead of comparable desks. Multiple compression models are available on the dLive.

Effects

The effects processing on the dLive, particularly if using the all new RackFX card, is exceptional. Comprehensive coverage of Reverbs, Delays, and extensive capabilities with up to 16 effect unit slots available. With the ability to reconfigure the desk, leveraging all effects units is possible, but limited if you require more mix buses or matrixes. More on this capability in the routing section.

Overall, I found it relatively easy to get great sounding reverbs, and delays on the desk with nearly endless optionality for configuration of the specific parameters of the reverbs. For most applications, the available effects will be more than satisfactory.

One somewhat annoying aspect of the desk is the inability to use Deessor without using an available effect rack, which can be limiting at best. Given the ability to simultaneously operate the Dyn8 on every channel, this is a baffling omission.

With comparison to other desks at this price point, the Allen and Heath effects processing is a clear winner.

Routing

The routing capabilities are virtually endless, with a few caveats. From an interface screen, you can select the number of auxes, matrixes, groups, and FX sends based on the use case. This feature set works exceptionally well, albeit with a few annoying limitations:

You can’t create more FX sends beyond the max of 16.
You can’t route groups to groups, which makes a group sum workflow not practical on the desk.

The lack of group to group summing in my opinion is the biggest single missing feature set that would squarely place the dLive into a tour class desk. Here is to hoping Allen & Heath rectifies that. Perhaps A&H’s lineage with DigiCo played into this one.

Reconfiguration of the desk causes the surface to be inoperable, making on the fly reconfiguration a non-starter. Another annoying aspect of the reconfiguration process is there is no way to select which bus will be removed if you’re lowering the count of a given bus. This can lead to frustrating rerouting situations.

Patching on the desk is a breeze, which a straightforward patch screen reminiscent of the Dante Controller. The ability to zoom in closely on the screen for more precision during the patching is an immensely helpful quality of life feature.

Expandability

The dLive offers a significant amount of expandability features, including sharing many I/O options with the more expensive dLive systems. For several installations I’ve found integration with Dante, Waves, and the GX stage boxes to be a seamless experience. One very cool feature is the ability to use the I/O expansion slots in multiple insert points on a single channel. For example: Say you want to route your kick drum to Waves, and then to an analog compressor for extra sauce. The dLive can easily accommodate such a task right from the processing menu on the UI. The only true limitation of the dLive is the hard cap of 128 channels. If Allen & Heath offered more channels, the feature set of the dLive is so good that they would likely kill the need to purchase a console like DigiCo.

User Interface

The UI for the dLive is ‘fine’. While the dLIve is an incredible desk with a ton of features, the UI doesn’t scream simplicity by any means. The operation of the desk is simple enough, the reconfiguration and adjustment of settings is a dizzying layer of complexity, with no easy way to do much. Hidden features like the Dyn8 are still being discovered by long time users of the Desk. Once you understand the Allen and Heath world, much of the operation of the desk can carry over from other desks, which makes learning them worth it. Similar to Yamaha systems, the workflow isn’t unlearnable like it is on Studer, but it is a learning experience.

One additional strange omission is the lack of a “precise” adjustment modifier, which can be very helpful if you’re looking to pick an exact frequency or processing setting. I find this to be frustrating when EQing drums specifically, when trying to get an exact resonance or boost a specific frequency.

The overall useability of the desk is still very good all things considered. With comparison to desks in the Yamaha lineup, Midas lineup, and even DigiCo lineup, the dLive has a far superior UI and workflow. I still can’t understand why the UI of all of these desks is so ugly, but function over form certainly prevails here. In some situations, learning the menu layout can be daunting, but with comparison to other products, the same problem exists and is easier to deal with on the dLive.

Mixing Experience

If anything is true about the dLive, it is first and foremost a mixing tool. To evaluate the mixing experience, I consider a number of factors:

Responsiveness
Encoder quality and feel
Fader quality and feel
Bugs/glitches
Precision of operation
Sound quality

In short, the dLive is a dream to mix on. The quality of sound is second to none with the 96k processing under the hood. I have found the build quality of the desk to be exceptional, with one enduring caveat, which I will address in the subsequent section. The dLive feels significantly higher quality than its brethren, on par with the best in the business including DigiCo. I demoed the Yamaha DM7, mixed on both CL5 and QL5 for years. I’ve demoed Lavo, Digico, SSL, and Midas. Out of all of the products that I’ve worked with, the dLive and the Allen and Heath dLive are the top with respect to build quality, feel, and the feeling of precision. The dLive is made of solid metal construction and the faders and encoders feel tactile. I do wish Allen and Heath would have elected to use metal on faders as opposed to a plastic material. In addition, the push buttons can feel a little cheap on such a nice desk.

With respect to the operation of the desk, I find it practical to make on the fly adjustments with ease. I’ve gone from an out of the box factory setup to a full studio quality mix in a matter of 2-3 hours on the desk, which is impressive considering you’d still be trying to figure out the X32’s patch or why Yamaha doesn’t allow you to configure your desk the way you want to.

Long Term Problems

While the dLive system has many components, the only problems we’ve encountered with the system were sticky or stuck faders. These problems have been rectifed by Allen and Heath via an extended warranty.

Recommendation