Advantages of IP Audio

[oscarmartz]

I saw the mention of IP audio on another thread here on the IAIB. I wanted some info on it. Is there anyone here using IP audio? What are the advantages of IP Audio.

[AlBurr]

Oscar... I am just learning about IP audio myself...however my background is computer networking so I have some experience with the IP standards. From what I can determine there are few players in this space... Dante being one... AVB or Audio Video Bridging is the standard or set of standards being developed by IEEE.

At present I am not using IP Audio but will be purchasing a mixer that supports it. The advantages from my perspective are several but most notably... auto-sensing (devices can intelligent connect and reconnect, self heal, re-reroute) basic fault tolerance. Very low latency is possible...

AVB - Audio Video Bridging Wiki
AVNU Members This is list of vendors and partners that work with the AVB standand.
Link to Dante info

Thought this illustration was a good one for "WHY IP AUDIO IS A GOOD THING"
StudioWiring.jpg

[kharnack]

Hi, Oscar.
I work for the Telos Alliance, plus I do a podcast on the GFQ Network.
Yes, literally thousands of radio and TV stations, plus podcasters and other content creators are using IP-Audio every day and right now. Indeed, there are over 4,000 Axia IP-audio consoles working at this very moment. The GFQ Network uses an Axia IP-Audio console to produce all shows.
It's important to note there are 2 basic flavors of IP-Audio: 1) the low-latency variety that's linear and intended for use within a facility. 2) the encoded variety - like MP3, AAC, etc. that is buffered and used over the public internet.

If you really want to know all about IP-audio, my late friend, Steve Church, wrote a book about it...
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Over-IP-...o+church+pizzi

Another good read - it's very to-the-point (and it's free) - is this primer on Livewire IP-audio systems:
http://axiaaudio.com/tech/introducti...r-v21/download

Finally, here's a 2-part video about building an IP-Audio studio...
http://youtu.be/R4hG-OaOXZQ

Best!

Kirk

[AlBurr]

Thanks Kharnack...I am eating this stuff up in my usual OCD style. I also stumbled across this doc from Harman that discusses their approach and also generically discusses many of the alternatives out there. It was a pretty good primer on some of the history and some background on why Harman chose the AVB and Dante standard. All in all very fascinating stuff...I had no idea all of these competing standards for AoIP existed out there... Makes perfect sense of course... just a babe in the woods here

http://hiqnet.harmanpro.com/content/...networking.pdf

[oscarmartz]

WOW Kirk thanks for the reply. I recently discovered TWiRT and live it. At times it a bit over my head but you guys make it easy to learn new things.

Now let me present this question to you. When will the consumer market start incorporating IP Audio? Do you think we will see companies like Mackie start adding it to their systems?

[AlBurr]

Given that Mackie is part of the AVNU http://www.avnu.org/about_us/our_members I suspect they will... Here is a press release from Mackie from 2011 discussing this exact subject... http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/p...dustry_standar

[AlBurr]

Oscar I found this in my internet wanderings and thought it might be helpful. http://audmaxbroadcast.hu/downloads/AoIPstandards.pdf

I also see that you are in Corona and it looks like there is a convention starting tomorrow 10/17 that might be of interest if you have the time... Not sure of the costs... http://www.avnetwork.com/events/0011...ectivity/91804