What is a Dante Network?

A Dante network is basically any IP over Ethernet network to which two or more Dante devices – including any computers running Dante Via – are connected. (A Dante network on which there is only one Dante device isn’t technically a ‘network’ – however you can use Dante Via to route audio internally in your computer.)

‘IP over Ethernet’ is a networking model that uses Ethernet technology for the physical network, and the Internet Protocol for controlling how data is moved around the network. Dante audio can be described as ‘Audio over IP’.

Dante networks can be:

• Dedicated - a network to which only Dante devices are connected (often used for recording studios, live sound and professional audio installations) – or:
• Shared between Dante and other network applications, such as office data, email, file management, VoIP telephony, or virtually any other type of network traffic. Standard networking features such as QoS (Quality of Service) can be used to ensure that Dante audio gets priority if required, to maintain perfect audio synchronization - however it is not usually required for fast (Gigabit) networks.