man, i'm just a regular guy
.... i'll just pick up the one converter to run the dry direct out/send with the main outs, to start the album, and then at some point i'll pick up a coax/opt spdif converter to A/B the sound using both outputs. an extra $150... i have a feeling kemper had to decide where to cut corners on the unit to come in 20 percent cheaper than the axe... the lesson learned here is to pick an interface directly compatible to the kemper
another feeling i have is that kemper would've focused the quality of the hardware towards all outputs except the spdif, given the majority of users will not be using it for direct input, thus the reason why its reported the spdif sound is a little more flat. i'm willing to bet the extra conversions needed coming out of the higher quality hardware associated with the main outs will not deteriorate the sound to the point where the main outs will sound worse than the spdif, but i'll up some A/B for you kids in a couple of days once i set this all up (just have to slug 20k lbs of furniture first)