Do I really need my D-box? Do I really need analog summing?

I bought a D-box a couple of years ago for my last album. I sent 4 busses out of Cubase (bus 1 pads, bus 2 percussion, etc.) into the D-box for analog summing then back into Cubase. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I noticed any improvement in sound over my prior album in which I did not have the D-box and went 100% ITB.



Wouldn't using my Slate VCC get me nearly the same ever-so-slight distortion and analog warmth that the D-box gets me?

Do I really need my D-box? Do I really need analog summing?