The way Dante does it's clock synchronization is very cool. There is an option to sync to an external clock if desired. This means consistency since their hardware is well built and quality controlled. With any Dante device, the network defaults to using a Dante chipset as the master clock, even if you only have 1 device on the network. With USB or Thunderbolt, the actual device could or could not be the "master" clock. Audinate has many videos explaining how their system uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Internet Protocol (IP) networking to send audio to and from devices, it will be linked below. Dante by Audinate is an entirely new protocol that treats uncompressed audio signals like network traffic in a computer system and is the next evolution in "interface" technology. I've been using Dante for over 5 years now in a live sound setting with Yamaha consoles, monitor mixer stations and wireless microphones. I came across an option that is much better and I want to share my installation journey with you if you are thinking of doing this yourself.
#DANTE VIRTUAL SOUNDCARD WIFI PC#
Previously, that interface ran my home studio PC and the laptop. I had no choice but to go with a USB 2 interface. It was a solid choice for years but it eventually died and I needed an interface that would also work with my laptop for professional sound system tuning. It had a proprietary card and used a DB25 cable to carry the signal to and from the I/O box which was 4 TRS in and 4 TRS out. I got an M-Audio "Delta 44" which was a PCI based interface.
Firewire was around at the time but not for Windows.
#DANTE VIRTUAL SOUNDCARD WIFI INSTALL#
The auto-sensing capability of USB is cool for keyboards but if you then have to install a driver to get your interface to work, why even bother? (Mac users are shaking their heads right now but USB has some of the same issues on Macs as well).Ībout a decade ago, I looked for an interface for my computer for playback and recording. USB 2 and up have the bandwidth to pass high bit-rate audio easily but the construct of the protocol was invented to support peripherals such as mice and keyboards. Tuning interface buffer rates is another problem, what is great for one app may not work well for another. Other than driver problems (on Windows) they seem especially prone to audible "Jitter" which is a term that describes clocking errors between the computer and interface.