Direct to Dante Protocol Why Dante Consultants, contractors, and end users have long been aware that when they ask for more out of their AV systems, they can expect the cost to rise usually exponentially. This was particularly evident when digital audio formats began showing up in corporate applications. Equipment costs, infrastructure complexity, and difficulty of installation all combined to significantly inflate the cost of integration and ownership. Over the past several years many new digital audio network formats have emerged to directly address these barriers. The Dante format from Audinate, in particular, has effectively changed the corporate AV landscape. By combining options for creative flexibility in designs, effortless integration with other technologies, and reduced equipment costs, Dante has opened the door to a new world of custom system design without the prohibitive costs. Other common digital formats discussed in the AV industry at this time are the open source AVB and AES67 protocols. In many discussions the proprietary and open source technologies are pitted against one another, with audio and network engineers taking sides. It is our view that these formats are not, in fact, intended to be opponents. Dante is a proprietary method of transporting audio over a local data network with low latency and system-wide synchronization. The Dante networking standard was developed by the for-profit company Audinate, and is sold in a chipset that manufacturers can use in their product designs. Offering the programming standard along with the hardware enables a faster path to market for the products of the licensed manufacturers and guarantees interoperability of these products. Dante is designed to run on most of today s standard computer networking equipment; this is one of the key differences between Dante and AVB. What is more, Audinate has announced that Dante will be compatible with AVB and other network standards in the near future. AVB is a set of standards for transporting audio and video over a local data network with low latency and system-wide synchronization. These protocols are assembled by the IEEE 802.1 Time-Sensitive Networking Task Group (formerly the Audio Video Bridging Task Group). The IEEE has a long history of creating global standards for a broad range of industries, including the audio industry. Currently, AVB remains under development, while being tested by participating individuals and companies. Nevertheless, many manufacturers are already following the AVB protocols (even as they participate in AVB s development and testing, which can take years to complete) and are selling hardware utilizing IEEE 802.1. One of the negatives with using AVB is that it requires a specialized network switch with firmware that supports and gives priority to AVB network traffic, a feature not offered by all enterprise network switch manufacturers. AES67, finalized in 2013, is a standard developed by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) to provide for the interoperability of networked audio formats. This standard has been adopted by a number of digital audio formats such as RAVENNA by ALC NetworX and Q-LAN by QSC Audio, and Dante is poised to adhere to this standard in the near future. Because microphones do not typically stand alone in an audio system, Audio-Technica chose to make its ATND series of network microphones interoperable with other audio equipment via the Dante protocol. The fact that Dante can be implemented at a low cost, using standard networking equipment, was an important factor in Audio-Technica s decision to use the format, as was the robust Dante support system offered by Audinate. Cost of Digital Networked audio standards such as AVB and AES67 are open source standards that a manufacturer can follow without paying a licensing fee. The standard is obtained simply by subscribing to the nonprofit organization that designed it and possibly paying a small fee for a document that outlines the standard. The major cost with using an open source standard comes from developing hardware and software that follows the standard. Manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to utilize Dante, and many end users have shunned the protocol because they wrongly assume that this fee will automatically make a Dante-enabled product unaffordable. But, as we can attest from designing our network microphones, the licensing fee is easily offset by the savings gained in development costs. Designing for Dante was much more efficient than if we had taken a written standard like AVB, deciphered it and sourced the chips in order to adhere to the standard. All cost for licensing have been absorbed into the price of the microphone there are no additional subscription fees or annual costs that the end user needs to pay for using Dante. When designing a fully digital networked audio system, the equipment costs for the networked audio gear is higher than that of its analog counterpart. But before going back to the analog security blanket, it is worth digging a little deeper into the matter. Other efficiencies can be found that balance out the higher equipment costs and, in some cases, even make networked audio a more cost-effective solution, especially for higher channel count systems. A quick look at three beneficial Dante applications in a conference room, a courthouse and a locale where wireless might commonly be used will demonstrate how these efficiencies can play out. Conference Room Retrofit An example of a common audio implementation would be a conference room table with 28 channels of microphones requiring logic in/out. Consider this as a retrofit of an existing system with some wiring present in the conduit under the table, including network cables and a few channels of audio, but not enough to carry the 28 microphone channels with logic. If quoting an analog system, you will need to estimate the cost of opening the floor to update the conduit and new wiring. You will also have to account for the use of five-conductor shielded cable that is home-run for each microphone on the table. Each microphone will need an analog input on the mixer along with the right amount of logic ins and outs most digital signal processor () chassis have a 12- to 24-channel maximum for analog inputs. Depending on the analog channel count, additional hardware may be required. And you should plan for the labor of wiring each of the five-conductors to each microphone and to the equipment rack. Now let s approach this 28-channel system from the perspective of a Dante network. You ll have to plan for the same number of microphones on the table with logic in/out for each. Comparing a traditional analog microphone to a Dante microphone, you will see that the Dante mic costs about twice as much. The same wiring in the floor exists so you can plan to use the existing network cable that can carry hundreds of Dante channels no need to estimate the cost of reworking the floor for this project. Of course you will need a PoE switch under the table and can assume that standard network cable is cheap cheaper than shielded mic cable and much less expensive than five-conductor shielded cable not to mention that you won t need to pull home-runs to each microphone location. Back in the equipment rack, a Dante-enabled with only a few analog inputs is specified. In most cases a single chassis can accept more than 50 digital inputs, so using Dante as an endpoint transport for this 28-channel system will reduce the need for analog inputs and require only a single chassis (as opposed to two chassis for the analog system). This conference room example shows that efficiencies can be found in the wiring, the hardware, and the labor required for installation. The other savings can be found in the greater simplicity of programming (some companies have preconfigured presets for Dante mics, including mute status and LED status) and in not having to troubleshoot problem connections such as cold solder joints and logic flips problems that are not usually accounted for in the quoting process. 1
Traditional Analog Boundary Microphones 28 ES961RCx Boundary Microphones $10,780 3 with 12 Mic Inputs & Logic Input/Output $9,747 1 5 Conductor Microphone Cable 1,000 ft. $550 28 Mic XLR Terminations 6 hrs @ $100/hr = $600 28 Control Terminations 6 hrs @ $100/hr = $600 Bulk 32 Channel Mic Snake & Terminations $2,000 28 Mic Terminations to Snake 4 hrs @ $100/hr = $400 28 Control Terminations to Snake 4 hrs @ $100/hr = $400 Core Drill Floor for 32 Channel Snake $2,500 Bulk Mic Connectors & Supplies $700 Verify no hums, buzzes or cold solder joints 2 hrs @ $100/hr = $200 Punch-down Audio Patch Panel MSRP total installation: $28,477 (Per Channel Cost: $1,017) (For drawing clarity connections to these mics are not shown) ATND971 Dante Boundary Microphones 28 ATND971 Boundary Microphones $20,944 with Dante Input $2,999 CAT5e Network Cable 500ft $100 32 Port PoE $1,000 60 RJ45 Terminations at Mics and 3 hrs @ $100/hr = $300 Single run of CAT5e to boardroom table MSRP total installation: $26,351 (Per Channel Cost: $941) (For drawing clarity connections to these mics are not shown) *Labor rates have been estimated conservatively. You may encounter higher rates, especially in or near large urban areas. 2
Courthouse Application A courthouse is another great example of where network audio can result in a cost savings while expanding features. In most traditional court applications only eight microphones are needed in a room, but there are multiple identical rooms. The per-room channel count is low, but the channel count for the entire project can be very high. The analog solution would require each room to have its own sound system, including microphones, mixers, and recording equipment. And if the technology director of the facility wants to monitor the rooms, he or she would need to have lines from each courtroom run to a central location. Each room would require five-conductor cable home run to the local mixer. The local mixer would require logic in/out as well as control capabilities for routing audio during sidebars and other confidential inroom conversations. This could be problematic, as the cost of the analog mixer grows quickly when features such as EQ, logic in/out and external control become a requirement. The networked audio solution would realize cost savings over just a few rooms. Some s can accept more than 50 channels of networked audio streams. What is more, these can be processed differently and routed from one to multiple rooms. Depending on the processing requirements, one mixer could theoretically accept eight rooms worth of microphones. The cabling to each microphone would be category cable terminated with an RJ45 connector, and each courtroom would have a network switch with PoE carrying audio and control data. Routing audio would be much simpler than with analog, requiring no distribution amplifiers, transformers or physical patch bays. Audio-Technica s ATND devices can be used as more than just microphones. With their red/green LEDs, they can also be programmed to light green when the court is in session, flash when the system is temporarily muted, or indicate some other system function according to the needs and desires of the court. Traditional Analog bases and goosenecks, 4 courtrooms 32 AT8666RSC $6,720 32 ES935ML6 Mics $11,200 4 with Logic Inputs/Outputs $12,996 4 s $8,000 1 Audio Patch Panel $1,000 4000ft 4-conductor Cable & Terms $2,000 16 hrs cable termination @ $100/hr $1,600 MSRP total installation: $43,516 (Per Channel Cost: $1,360) Courtroom 1 Courtroom 2 Technology Closet Audio Patch Panel Courtroom 3 Courtroom 4 3
ATND8677 Dante Bases, 4 courtrooms 32 ATND8677 Bases $19,136 32 ES935ML6 Mics $11,200 1 with Dante input $2,999 1 Multi-Channel Network Recorder $2,500 5 8 Port PoE es $2,500 4,000ft of CAT5e Network Cable & Terms $600 2hrs Cable Terminations @ $100/hr $200 MSRP total installation: $39,135 (Per Channel Cost: $1,223) Courtroom 1 Courtroom 2 Technology Closet Network Recorder Courtroom 3 Courtroom 4 *Labor rates have been estimated conservatively. You may encounter higher rates, especially in or near large urban areas. 4
Wireless Applications It is becoming standard practice in multipurpose meeting spaces to use wireless microphones because of the implied flexibility of not being tethered. Also, the wiring options in a room may be limited, with only a few wall connections or floor boxes available. However, when such applications are examined more critically, they usually boil down to two or three room configurations that each require a single microphone on a desk. What is more, the facility usually lacks a qualified caretaker to manage the battery charging and frequency coordination needed with a wireless system. Because all of the microphones have a unique MAC and IP address it doesn t matter what network port the mic is plugged into, the audio routing is always the same. This empowers a novice to have confidence that a microphone will be routed correctly when it is plugged in. What is more, the end user does not need to worry about batteries or RF regulations associated with a wireless microphone system, and is not restricted from adding more channels in the future. Because of Dante s nonlinear signal flow, a Dante microphone can be connected to any network port and routed according to the microphone s preset. The microphones can be quickly combined to a local network switch and their signals sent down one network cable to the mixer in the equipment rack, minimizing wall or floor connections and using a cable that is easily found within the IT department. Wireless Bases* 1 14 Channel Wireless Boundary $37,800 MSRP total installation: $37,800 (Per Channel Cost: $2,700) *RF Coordination, Rechargeable Batteries required Dante Bases 14 ATND971 Boundary Mics $10,472 1 16 Port PoE $539 MSRP total installation: $11,515 (Per Channel Cost: $823) Conclusion While the initial sticker shock associated with the key components for network audio may make it seem like you re breaking the bank, keep in mind three things: 1.) the per-channel cost of the system; 2.) the benefit to having more customization of a networked audio system to increase system design revenue; 3.) the ability to upgrade and increase channel count without adding additional system infrastructure. Audio-Technica Corporation audio-technica.com 2015 Audio-Technica 0001-0301-00 5