Stage Vs Toaster/Rack - Comprehensive List of Component/Feature Differences

    Sorry if this has been discussed to death before!

    The Stage is selling for significantly less (in the US $1700 vs $2300) than an unpowered toaster/Rack footswitch combo, and I am sure some of that is due to the lower manufacturing/material cost of building the pedalboard into the brain unit, however I've heard that there are some other differences b/w the units that contribute to the lower price.

    So do we have a comprehensive list, on a component and features level, of the differences to allow for this significant cost difference?

    There is no functional difference besides the form factor that would explain the cost difference.


    Sonically there is zero difference.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

    Quote from Ruefus

    There is no functional difference besides the form factor that would explain the cost difference.

    There is just one functional difference software-wise, albeit due to a hardware limitation, that I can think of off the top of my head, Ruefus, but I agree that the form factor would logically be "to blame" for the cost difference.


    Due to the thread's title, I'll describe this difference:


    The Stage is capable of full / "true" external-clock sync. S/PDIF input from as well as output to another device is supported.


    The other units can sync to the S/PDIF input, but synced-digital output in this scenario is not supported. Some users have reported success, but the consensus is that they've been lucky not to have experienced clicks and pops 'cause only the input is properly-synced.


    The only way to achieve full I/O sync on the non-Stage units is to make the Kemper the clock master.