Hi folks,
Running the risk of beating a dead horse here, but I do want to say that, at least with my SSL gear, mixes resulting from internal summing, summing to a single channel of the SSL, and sending stems to 16 channels of the SSL all produce objectively, demonstrably different results.
I'm genuinely with many of you when it comes to stuff being measureable and not believing stuff that cannot be defined, and that's why I can also say that I can show you three different resultant files (ITB, 1 channel of SSL and 16 channels of SSL) and none of them cancel on a null test. In fact, when trying a null test with any two files there are significant, non-trivial remainders. If anyone's interested I'd be happy to post them somewhere.
As for any one being better or worse, that's a different question and not one that I'm really interested in wading in to...in fact, I don't even know that I could reliably pass an A/B/X test on it for some material (though that's not nearly the infallible arbiter that some folks think it is), but it is doing something to the sound.
Interesting discussion around this, BTW. I'm (as usual) learning new stuff, so thanks.
Oh, and I gotta get some of that sound proofing paint :)
Dean