The S-2416 24x16 Digital Snake Stage Unit from Roland solves two age-old problems of live sound and fixed installations at once. It allows you to transfer a total of 32 input and 24 output channels of high-quality audio without signal degradation over an extremely long distance, and the cable pull-through issue is a snap in fixed installations and a breeze to setup compared to using analog snakes.

The S-2416 features 24 input x 16 output analog channels and 8 input x 8 output digital channels in a 4U rack-mount chassis. All input sections are equipped with discrete mic preamps designed to be transparent with uncolored sound; they can be controlled using any V-Mixer console, R-1000, an S-4000R unit connected by RS-232C, or by using the S-4000 RCS remote-control software on a computer (Mac or Windows) connected via USB. Furthermore, each Neutrik XLR jack connector features three-colored lights that communicate the status of phantom power, clipping, and signal presence.

In addition, two REAC Neutrik Ethercon connectors, a main and a backup, are provided to create a redundant REAC network just in case a problem occurs with the main line. The operation switches to the backup connector with no break in the audio. Word clock in & out for 24-bit / 96, 48, or 44.1 kHz sample rates is also supported.

The Rear Panel provides AES/EBU connectivity (25-pin D-sub type) for 8 channels of input and output providing connection to speaker processors, amps, and other devices capable of AES/EBU input and/or output. This is assigned to channels 25 through 32 and output is selectable by a mode switch.