What is Dante audio? Why the large-scale conference system of government and enterprises can not be separated from it more and more?

Anyone who works on conference audio and video projects knows the current situation: almost all high-end government and enterprise projects come standard with Dante network audio.

A few years ago, everyone was still using the tradition to simulate the cannon line and a pile of wire pile machine room; Nowadays, the government building, state-owned enterprise headquarters and multi-functional conference cluster are newly built, and the design scheme directly defaults to Dante IP network audio architecture.

Many masters only know that "Dante is very advanced", but in the end, where is the advanced, why large-scale projects must be used, and whether small projects should be used, most people actually don't fully understand it.

Today, in the words of engineering people, it is transparent at one time.

First, popular vernacular: What is Dante?
Dante is the most mainstream and mature lossless network audio transmission protocol in audio and video industry at present.

Simple translation:

Traditional analog audio = one-to-one cable, one microphone and one cable, the more devices, the more messy the cables.

Dante network audio = a network cable can handle dozens of two-way audio, and the whole network equipment can communicate freely.

It converts analog sound into high-quality digital audio data packets and transmits them through ordinary network cables, optical fibers and switches.

Core hard parameters are directly filled:

Lossless 24bit/48kHz professional sound quality, no compression and no loss.

Ultra-low delay, the lowest level can be 1ms, and the sound and picture are completely synchronized.

Supports bidirectional transmission, multi-path concurrency and arbitrary route switching.

Support network-wide visual management, remote debugging and status monitoring.

Bottom line: Dante is the "digital highway" of professional audio.

Second, why are high-end meetings between government and enterprises increasingly inseparable from Dante?
It is not the concept of factory hype, but the pain point of government and enterprise projects, which can only be solved by network audio.

1. Say goodbye to the "wire explosion" completely, and the difficulty of construction and transformation will drop precipitously.
The biggest problems of traditional large conference buildings and multi-storey conference rooms are: too many lines, too messy, difficult to rebuild and maintain.

Each microphone, each group of speakers, and each input/output channel should be separately connected with analog signal lines.

When a building is completed, the wiring harness in the computer room is piled up, the pipeline is full, and the increase or decrease of equipment in the later stage is basically equivalent to redone.

And Dante scheme:

The whole house only needs one network wiring system.

All conference hosts, array microphones, audio processors, network power amplifiers and sound columns are all connected to the switch.

Add a conference room, add a microphone, and adjust the audio signal. There is no need to re-cable, and the software will be changed as soon as it is delayed.

Especially suitable for: upgrading old conference rooms, multi-floor clusters and large-scale park reconstruction projects.

2. Long-distance transmission of zero noise, completely eliminating ground loop interference.
The most common headache in engineering:

Cross-floor and long-distance analog transmission will inevitably produce current buzz, noise and noise floor.

This is a physical defect of analog audio, which can only be alleviated by isolator and grounding optimization, but cannot be cured.

Dante is pure digital transmission:

Not afraid of distance, interference, attenuation and ground loop noise.

The network cable is 100 meters and the optical fiber is several kilometers, and the sound quality is as pure as two peas, which perfectly meets the high requirements of official meetings of government and enterprises and remote video conferences.

3. Many meeting places are interconnected, and the simulation system can't do it at all.
Normalization needs of government and enterprises:

The speech at the main venue will be synchronized with all the sub-venues, the sub-venue sound summary command center, cross-floor linkage broadcast and conference recording.

Traditional analog systems need a lot of jumper, transit and docking equipment to communicate with each other, which has complex structure, high failure rate and cannot be switched flexibly.

Dante network architecture naturally supports:

The audio resources of the whole network are shared, and any room can communicate with each other and any signal can be dispatched freely.

Large-scale government affairs center, emergency command center and group headquarters building basically just need functions.

4, the whole process of remote visual operation and maintenance, after-sales peace of mind 90%
Government and enterprise projects are most afraid of after-sales: there are many conference rooms, scattered and complicated problems, and the cost of running on the spot is extremely high.

Through Dante Controller software, the computer can directly:

Check the online status of all devices in the whole network.

Remote switching signal routing, switching channels and adjusting parameters.

Quickly locate silent, disconnected and abnormal points

More than 80% of the faults can be checked remotely without running every floor or disassembling the computer room.

5, eco-universal, not bound by a single brand
Dante is a global standard, and 600+ manufacturers are compatible with each other:

Conference system, array microphone, DSP processor, network power amplifier, sound column and video conference terminal are all adapted.

Engineers can freely match and select the best type, without being locked by a certain brand private agreement, and the scheme is extremely flexible.

6. Support dual-network redundancy to meet the requirements of zero interruption of government and enterprises.
Audio interruption is absolutely not allowed in important government meetings and emergency command scenes.

Dante supports dual-network redundant backup, main network failure, and seamless switching of standby networks to ensure the stability of the whole meeting without rollover.

Three, four common mistakes that engineers must avoid Dante
Myth 1: Dante can use it by plugging in the network cable.

Wrong! Must be independent Gigabit network, independent VLAN, can not be mixed with office network, monitoring network, otherwise it is easy to get stuck, sonic boom, delay jitter.

Myth 2: Dante can replace DSP processor

Wrong! Dante is only responsible for audio transmission, noise reduction, AEC echo cancellation, howling suppression, mixing and clipping, and still needs professional DSP processing.

Myth 3: Dante and AES67 are the same thing.

It's different! Dante is a mature commercial protocol, plug and play; AES67 is a universal interoperability standard, which is mostly used for cross-brand and cross-system docking. Most of the new devices are compatible in both directions.

Myth 4: Dante is required for all projects.

Small single conference room, simple sound reinforcement and extremely low budget, the traditional simulation scheme is more cost-effective, and there is no need to blindly access network audio.

Fourth, which projects are suitable for Dante system?
Scene suitable for Dante:

Multi-conference room cluster, multi-storey office building and overall audio and video system of the park

Government affairs center, command hall, large multi-function hall and high-end lecture hall.

Projects requiring cross-venue communication, remote operation and maintenance, and frequent expansion in the later period.

The overall renovation of the old project does not want a large-scale rewiring scene.

Blind scenes are not recommended:

Small conference room with single room, few passages and simple functions.

The budget is extremely low, and there is no need for expansion and remote management.

Concluding summary
The audio and video industry has already entered the "digital network era" from the "analog cable era".

Dante is not the icing on the cake, but the standardized base of large-scale government-enterprise conference system.

The core reason why it can monopolize the high-end conference market is simpler wiring, more stable sound quality, easier operation and maintenance, and unlimited expansion.

In all future large and medium-sized audio and video projects, network audio will definitely replace traditional analog audio.