Yamaha QL5, Owner'S Manual

Connection

 Owner’s Manual

30

Connection

About network connections

About Dante

This product features Dante technology as a protocol to 
transmit audio signals. Dante is a network protocol 
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 QL series features QL5: 64 in/64 out, QL1: 32 
in/32 out with a 24/32-bit resolution.)

•

Dante-enabled devices will automatically configure 
their network interfaces and find each other on the 
network. You can label Dante devices and their audio 
channels with descriptive names that make sense to 
you.

•

Dante uses high accuracy network synchronization 
standards to achieve sample-accurate playback with 
extremely low latency and jitter. Five types of latency 
are offered by the QL series: 0.25 msec, 0.5 msec, 1.0 
msec, 2.0 msec, and 5.0 msec.

•

A primary circuit and a secondary circuit provide 
redundancy in the event of a problem.

•

Connecting a Dante-enabled device to a computer 
using an Ethernet connection enables you to directly 
input or output audio signals without using any audio 
interface devices.

•

Audio can be transferred over distances up to 100 
meters* between devices using CAT5e network 
cables.
* Maximum practical distance may vary according to 

the cable used.

Visit the Audinate website for more details on Dante.

http://www.audinate.com/

More information on Dante is also posted on the Yamaha 
Pro Audio website:

http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/

NOTE

Please do not use the EEE function (*) of network switches 
in a Dante network.
Although power management should be negotiated 
automatically in switches that support EEE, some switches 
do not perform 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 
network 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.

About Dante Controller

Dante Controller is a software application that allows 
configuration and audio routing of Dante networks. Use 
this application if you wish to set up complicated signal 
routings on a Dante network. More information is posted 
on the following website.

http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/

Connecting to I/O devices

This section explains how to connect the QL series to I/O 
devices (such as Rio3224-D) in a daisy chain network 
and in a star network (redundant network). Before 
connecting I/O devices, first perform “Setting up the 
Dante network” (see page 34) and then turn off the 
power to the QL series console.

Daisy chain network

A daisy chain is a wiring scheme in which multiple 
devices are connected together in sequence. With this 
method, 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 in 
this way, the latency value must be increased. Also, if a 
connection is broken in a daisy chain network, the signal 
flow is interrupted at that point and no signal will be 
transferred beyond that point.