About Dante - Yamaha MRX7-D Owner's Manual

About Dante

This product features Dante technology as a protocol to transmit audio signals. Dante is a network pro-
tocol developed by Audinate. It is designed to deliver multi-channel audio signals at various sampling
and bit rates, as well as device control signals over a Giga-bit Ethernet (GbE) network. Dante also offers
the following benefits:
• It transmits up to 512 in/512 out, for a total 1024 channels (in theory) of audio over a GbE network. (The MRX7-D
features 64 in/64 out with a 24/32-bit resolution.)
• Dante uses high accuracy network synchronization standards to achieve sample-accurate playback with extremely low
latency and jitter. Four types of latency are offered by the MRX7-D: 0.25 msec, 0.5 msec, 1.0 msec, and 5.0 msec.
• Dante supports resilient redundant connections against unexpected network problems via primary and secondary cir-
cuits.
Visit the Audinate website for more details on Dante.
http://www.audinate.com/
Additional information on Dante is also posted on the Yamaha Pro Audio website:
http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/
About connections
There are two ways to connect the MRX7-D to a Dante net-
work.
NOTE
Please do not use the EEE function (*) of network switches in a
Dante network.
Although power management should be negotiated automati-
cally in switches that support EEE, some switches do not per-
form the negotiation properly. This may cause EEE to be
enabled in Dante networks when it is not appropriate, resulting
in poor synchronization performance and occasional dropouts.
Therefore we strongly recommend that:
• If you use managed switches, ensure that they allow EEE to
be disabled. Make sure that EEE is disabled on all ports
used for real-time Dante traffic.
• If you use unmanaged switches, make sure to not use net-
work switches that support the EEE function, since EEE
operation cannot be disabled in these switches.
* EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet) is a technology that reduces switch
power consumption during periods of low network traffic. It is also
known as Green Ethernet and IEEE802.3az.

Daisy chain network
A daisy chain is a wiring scheme in which multiple devices
are connected together in sequence. In this way, networking
is simple and requires no network switches.
This connection method is suitable for a simple system with
a small number of devices.
However, if a large number of devices are connected, the
latency value must be increased. Also, if a connection is bro-
ken in a daisy chain network, the signal flow is interrupted at
that point and no signal will be transferred beyond that point.
NOTE
The computer that's running MTX-MRX Editor must be con-
nected to the unused Dante [PRIMARY] connector or Dante
[SECONDARY] connector on the MRX7-D. For details on
connections, refer to "MRX Setup Manual."
MRX7-D (ID#1)
88
MRX7-D (ID#2)
88
MRX7-D (ID#3)
88

Star network
In a star network, each device is connected to a central hub.
Using a GbE-compatible network switch enables you to con-
figure a wide-band, large-scale network. We recommend a
network switch that features various functions to control and
monitor the network (such as Qos, the ability to assign prior-
ity to data flows — e.g., clock synchronization or audio
transmission on certain data circuits.)
With this topology, it is common to configure a redundant
network so that an unexpected network problem will not
affect any audio or otherwise stable communications.
Computer
PRIMARY
SECONDARY
PRIMARY
SECONDARY
PRIMARY
15
MRX7-D Owner's Manual