What is Dante?
Dante is an Audio over IP network protocol created by the Australian based company Audinate. It was designed to transport high audio channel counts over a network with low latency. In 2019 Audinate released Dante AV, which brought the same ease of transporting audio over IP to the video world. It made it possible to transport high quality audio and video over an IP network.
Management is simple with Dante Controller
Dante ties everything in using its software Dante Controller. It’s easy to use interface allows users to monitor Dante devices on the network. It’s simple routing application works much like a digital patch bay in a digital console. Allowing plug and play integration with various Dante compatible devices simple and easy.
Compatibility
There are a wide range of Dante compatible devices. From installing a Dante Card in your Dante compatible device, to now having various manufactures include Dante into the build of their product.
What is AES67
AES67 is an open standard audio over IP protocol that was developed by AES (Audio Engineering Society). AES67 offers the transport of high quality, high audio channel counts over a network with low latency.
Management
Unlike Audinate’s Dante Controller or Merging Technologies Aneman, AES67 does not have a dedicated management interface. Instead, because it is an open protocol, it relies on audio streams being created through your device’s interface and also other manufacturers third-party software and GUIs etc.
Compatibility
Because AES67 is an open platform, it has the flexibility to allow users to use AES67 compatible devices with other audio over IP protocols, giving you multiple options on products and connectivity. This allows the compatibility and integration between other protocols such as Dante, Livewire and Ravenna. For example, a Dante Network could be in connection with a Ravenna network using AES67 as the bridge between the 2, AES67 in sense will make sure there is seamless communication between the 2 protocols which will allow the seamless transport of data packets through the network. This makes the use of AES67 a great option for recording and broadcasting studios.
In Conclusion
Dante and AES67 are both great audio over IP protocols. Both have their advantages in different areas. Dante’s easy to use platform, with its high channel counts while still producing low latency makes it possibly the better choice for live stage applications. While AES67 is an open protocol, its open platform allows it to be used across other network protocols and its focus towards producing excellent audio quality with low latency, makes it possibly the better choice for recording and broadcasting studios. In the end it would come down to what your application needs are, and what makes sense to you and all end users involved. Below we’ve added some products from Sennheiser, Neumann and Merging Technologies that have Dante or AES 67 capabilities.