So i just got my first “Big Boy” mixer. Yea! Early Christmas.
It has XLR as well as bal/unbal TS/TRS inputs…
It’s also supposed to have super-dooper hi-fi mix pre-amps… For the AR, do I care? Or should I just use insert cables to go from AR->ChX + ChY?
Just wondering if there’s any reason to use the mic pre-amps in the mixer?
Thanks!
there is a topic here
Use separately the voices you want arrange.
I use only BD/BT in mono and use stereo for others
I read that, but didn’t see any discussion of merits of using xlr mic inputs vs unbalanced inserts. I’m mainly wondering about beni of s/n ratio differences, etc…
Prob over thinking this. 
No, you are not. But you need decent DI boxes to change the impedance to mic level from the outs of the AR. Without DI, you have to use TS connectors for the indi outs and TRS for the stereo outs. I like Radial for this, I have JDI and their standard stereo DI, but there are others like Neve RNDI and probably lots more if you look around.
Sure enough the SNR will be different with a mic pre, but what’s more important is that you can saturate the inputs with the mic pre gain. This can sometimes sound awesome! Even just leanin into the preamps cann give nice effect.
You will not gain a better SNR this way though. Line signals into line level impedances will not improve when you drop the impedance into mic level. So you will not get a “cleaner” recording/output by going DI, just a different one.
If your mixer has trims for the line inputs as well, you can drive them without hitting the mic connectors.