ATND Series White Paper Direct to Dante® Protocol Why Dante Manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to utilize Dante, and many end Consultants, contractors, and end users have long been aware that when users have shunned the protocol because they wrongly assume that this they ask for more out of their AV systems, they can expect the cost to fee will automatically make a Dante-enabled product unaffordable. But, as rise—usually exponentially. This was particularly evident when digital we can attest from designing our network microphones, the licensing fee audio formats began showing up in corporate applications. Equipment is easily offset by the savings gained in development costs. Designing for costs, infrastructure complexity, and diffculty of installation all combined Dante was much more effcient than if we had taken a written standard to signifcantly infate the cost of integration and ownership. 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 Over the past several years many new digital audio network formats microphone—there are no additional subscription fees or annual costs have emerged to directly address these barriers. The Dante format that the end user needs to pay for using Dante. from Audinate, in particular, has effectively changed the corporate AV landscape. By combining options for creative fexibility in designs, When designing a fully digital networked audio system, the equipment effortless integration with other technologies, and reduced equipment costs for the networked audio gear is higher than that of its analog costs, Dante has opened the door to a new world of custom system counterpart. But before going back to the analog security blanket, it is design without the prohibitive costs. worth digging a little deeper into the matter. Other effciencies can be found that balance out the higher equipment costs and, in some cases, Other common digital formats discussed in the AV industry at this time even make networked audio a more cost-effective solution, especially are the open source AVB and AES67 protocols. In many discussions the for higher channel count systems. A quick look at three benefcial Dante proprietary and open source technologies are pitted against one another, applications—in a conference room, a courthouse and a locale where with audio and network engineers taking sides. It is our view that these wireless might commonly be used—will demonstrate how these formats are not, in fact, intended to be opponents. effciencies can play out. Dante is a proprietary method of transporting audio over a local data Conference Room Retroft network with low latency and system-wide synchronization. The An example of a common audio implementation would be a conference Dante networking standard was developed by the for-proft company room table with 28 channels of microphones requiring logic in/out. Audinate, and is sold in a chipset that manufacturers can use in their Consider this as a retroft of an existing system with some wiring present product designs. Offering the programming standard along with the in the conduit under the table, including network cables and a few hardware enables a faster path to market for the products of the licensed channels of audio, but not enough to carry the 28 microphone channels manufacturers and guarantees interoperability of these products. Dante with logic. If quoting an analog system, you will need to estimate the is designed to run on most of today’s standard computer networking cost of opening the foor to update the conduit and new wiring. You will equipment; this is one of the key differences between Dante and AVB. also have to account for the use of fve-conductor shielded cable that What is more, Audinate has announced that Dante will be compatible is home-run for each microphone on the table. Each microphone will with AVB and other network standards in the near future. need an analog input on the mixer along with the right amount of logic ins and outs—most digital signal processor (DSP) chassis have a 12- to AVB is a set of standards for transporting audio and video over a local 24-channel maximum for analog inputs. Depending on the analog channel data network with low latency and system-wide synchronization. These count, additional DSP hardware may be required. And you should plan for protocols are assembled by the IEEE 802.1 Time-Sensitive Networking the labor of wiring each of the fve-conductors to each microphone and to Task Group (formerly the Audio Video Bridging Task Group). The IEEE has the equipment rack. a long history of creating global standards for a broad range of industries, including the audio industry. Currently, AVB remains under development, Now let’s approach this 28-channel system from the perspective of a while being tested by participating individuals and companies. Dante network. You’ll have to plan for the same number of microphones Nevertheless, many manufacturers are already following the AVB on the table with logic in/out for each. Comparing a traditional analog protocols (even as they participate in AVB’s development and testing, microphone to a Dante microphone, you will see that the Dante mic which can take years to complete) and are selling hardware utilizing costs about twice as much. The same wiring in the foor exists so you IEEE 802.1. One of the negatives with using AVB is that it requires a can plan to use the existing network cable that can carry hundreds of specialized network switch with frmware that supports and gives priority Dante channels—no need to estimate the cost of reworking the foor to AVB network traffc, a feature not offered by all enterprise network for this project. Of course you will need a PoE switch under the table switch manufacturers. and can assume that standard network cable is cheap—cheaper than shielded mic cable and much less expensive than fve-conductor shielded AES67, fnalized in 2013, is a standard developed by the Audio cable—not to mention that you won’t need to pull home-runs to each Engineering Society (AES) to provide for the interoperability of networked microphone location. Back in the equipment rack, a Dante-enabled DSP audio formats. This standard has been adopted by a number of digital with only a few analog inputs is specifed. In most cases a single DSP audio formats such as RAVENNA by ALC NetworX and Q-LAN by QSC chassis can accept more than 50 digital inputs, so using Dante as an end- Audio, and Dante is poised to adhere to this standard in the near future. point transport for this 28-channel system will reduce the need for analog inputs and require only a single DSP chassis (as opposed to two chassis Because microphones do not typically stand alone in an audio system, for the analog system). Audio-Technica chose to make its ATND series of network microphones interoperable with other audio equipment via the Dante protocol. The fact This conference room example shows that effciencies can be found in that Dante can be implemented at a low cost, using standard networking the wiring, the DSP hardware, and the labor required for installation. The equipment, was an important factor in Audio-Technica’s decision to use other savings can be found in the greater simplicity of DSP programming the format, as was the robust Dante support system offered by Audinate. (some DSP companies have preconfgured presets for Dante mics, including mute status and LED status) and in not having to troubleshoot Cost of Digital problem connections such as cold solder joints and logic fips—problems Networked audio standards such as AVB and AES67 are open source that are not usually accounted for in the quoting process. standards that a manufacturer can follow without paying a licensing fee. The standard is obtained simply by subscribing to the nonproft 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. 1 ATND Series White Paper Example Confguration: Traditional Analog Boundary Microphones • 28 ES961RCx Boundary Microphones $10,780 DSP • 3 DSP 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 DSP • 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 DSP • 28 Control Terminations to Snake 4 hrs @ $100/hr = $400 • Core Drill Floor for 32 Channel Snake $2,500 • Bulk Mic Connectors & Supplies $700 Punch-down Audio • Verify no hums, buzzes or cold solder joints 2 hrs Patch @ $100/hr = $200 Panel MSRP total installation: $28,477 (Per Channel Cost: $1,017) (For drawing clarity connections to these mics are not shown) Example Confguration: ATND971 Dante Boundary Microphones • 28 ATND971 Boundary Microphones $20,944 DSP • DSP with Dante Input $2,999 • CAT5e Network Cable—500ft $100 • 32 Port PoE Network Switch $1,000 • 60 RJ45 Terminations at Mics and Network Switch 3 hrs @ $100/hr = $300 Network Switch • 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 ATND Series White Paper Courthouse Application A courthouse is another great example of where network audio can The networked audio solution would realize cost savings over just a few result in a cost savings while expanding features.