Dante?

[Peter la Haye]

I have ordered an Axient PSM, which will arrive in January. I’m excited! I also have an Axient microphone, and everything is organized in a flip case. I use it for performances with a music orchestra. Soon, I will have my IEM and microphones with XLR connections. I’m considering getting a Dante card to connect my microphones and IEM through Dante, and maybe a Bluetooth Dante box later. Do you think this is a good idea, or is it pointless and not worth the money? I don’t need a lot of Dante only Mic/iem/BT

[Brian]

Using a Dante connection has several theoretical advantages.

First, it would allow the audio to remain in the digital realm. There would be no D->A conversion in the mic system just to have to go through a A->D conversion at the preamp. This should result in a better sound. However I doubt anyone would really be able to tell a difference – especially during an actual event (vs a A/B testing environment).

Second, it allows you to set up a “backup” set of inputs by also routing the mic’s analog outputs into the system. This way if Dante goes down, you could switch to the analog inputs and use those instead. Obviously the opposite applies as well. If you were using the analog inputs and they do down (perhaps a stage box gets unplugged by accident, etc), you could switch to the Dante inputs and carry on the show.

The real advantage to Dante is just the fact that there are so many different Dante devices out there and it makes it really easy to utilize devices from different manufacturers. It also makes it easier to implement existing network structure to connect these devices. It doesn’t sound like these advantages are going to be important in your situation, at least initially.

Bluetooth is completely separate from Dante and your decision to use or not use Dante won’t affect how you might implement Bluetooth into your system. I will say that outside of using a bluetooth receiver to play “house music” there is little need for bluetooth usually. The Music Tribe makes a good, but inexpensive bluetooth receiver called the Klark Teknik Air Link DW 20BR. I highly recommend that product if you are looking for a bluetooth receiver.

Whether these small advantages are worth the expense of getting a Dante card is obviously a personal decision.

[Peter la Haye]

Thx for the good information, im think about the Dante, the blue tooth looks nice I have now the Denon 200br is the Klark Better ?

[SteffenR]

You should use a switch to connect the devices, daisy chain with more than two devices isn’t a good idea.
If you invest in a small POE switch, it should get easier to set up.

[Brian]

“Thx for the good information, im think about the Dante, the blue tooth looks nice I have now the Denon 200br is the Klark Better ?”

If you are purchasing a new device, I don’t think the Denon model is worth the cost (at 2x the price of the Klark Teknik). But obviously there is no need to replace the Denon model if you already have one.

[tourtelot]

What Steffen offers is good advice.

For really small Dante rigs (think three devices and a MBP running Dante controller and VSC), I have been very pleased using the Netgear GS305PE switch. About $80 on Amazon and it is a (sorta) managed switch with “auto” POE on every port. If the device needs POE, the switch will provide it. If the device doesn’t need POS, no voltage will be applied to the port. Very safe. As well, it allows you to manage tasks like turning off EEE (energy savings) that are very important in a Dante network. Maybe even VLANs. No DHCP which is the only thing I miss, but I just keep all my devices static for IP presentation and let the Dante cards provide IP in the 169.154.xxx.xxx range. Easy-peasy.

D.

[tourtelot]

Oh and at the other extreme, I run two Cisco SG300 28-port managed switches, one at FOH and one on the stage. Very “managed”. 🙂

D.

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