The Nixer RD Dante is a professional Dante network analyser and monitoring unit designed for fixed installation in theatres, arenas, stadiums, broadcast suites or OB vehicles. It is also ideal for inclusion in equipment racks for touring, festivals and other large-scale live sound events.
Nixer RD Dante lets the engineer examine all aspects of the Dante network and to diagnose any problems. Its analysis is non-invasive, meaning that none of the Dante devices already on the network need be individually interrogated. RD Dante is AES67 compatible, and will operate at 44.1/48 kHz (64 audio channels) or 88.2/96 kHz (32 audio channels): bit depths of 16, 24 and 32 are supported. It is also fully compatible with Audinate’s new Dante Domain Manager software.
Physically, RD Dante is a robust, 2U rackmounting unit. It is mains-powered using dual Universal PSUs (90 to 250 V, 50/60 Hz), with separate AC inlets. An internal 2 x 25 W power amplifier drives a pair of 3” full-range speakers mounted on the front panel; these have individual internal rear acoustic ports for excellent audio reproduction. Centrally mounted on the front panel, the 5” high definition, full colour touchscreen provides all user interaction: this includes all network and audio information as well an easy-to-navigate, menu-based control system.
RD Dante is intended to form part of the local Dante network, and will be recognised by the system’s Audinate Dante Controller software as a network device. Once established on the network, the name, status and audio level of all connected audio channels will be displayed in a logical manner on the unit’s touchscreen.
On the display, the main page shows network status and clock rate at the primary and secondary ports, together with audio level, status, channel number and name of all audio channels. Any channel or channels may then be selected for auditioning on the speakers, or via headphones connected to the front panel ¼” jack. The speakers are muted when headphones are plugged in. A large stereo bargraph meter shows the monitor level (i.e., the sum of all selected channels). All on-screen meters have a peak hold function, which may be disabled if preferred. Standard monitor volume, mute and per-channel PFL functions are provided: the PFL mode is particularly powerful as it uses one-touch operation to select monitoring of adjacent channel pairs: additive PFL may be selected as an alternative. There is also a Solo function, and one-touch routing of all channels to either left or right monitor outputs. Alternatively, all odd-numbered channels may be selected to left and all even to right.
Enhanced monitoring of 16, 8 or individual channels is available on further pages: users can then swipe sideways to inspect other channels. A Focus function allows the user to highlight any subset of audio channels, simplifying the display if only certain channels are of interest.
The monitor output is available for external use both as a pair of balanced analogue line outputs and an AES3 digital output. RD Dante also allows an external signal to be injected into the Dante stream: an AES3 digital input is provided and there is also an unbalanced analogue input (with level control) on a ¼” front panel jack socket. The inputs may be routed to any odd/even channel pair.
Several further screen pages give an overview of network information, control of meter setup, Solo setup, and other “housekeeping” functions. A test oscillator is included which generates sine, square or triangle waveforms at eight frequencies from 50 Hz to 10 kHz, plus white or pink noise. The oscillator output can be routed to any Dante audio channel(s) and/or to any of the unit’s outputs.
