What is Dante?
Dante is a widely used audio/video network protocol with over 4,000 compatible devices from more than 600 manufacturers. Dante is especially popular in the live and installation sector.
What is Dante Ready™ and Dante Activator?
A Dante Ready™ device allows you to purchase and add Dante I/O channels to a device after initial purchase using the Dante Activator feature in the Dante Controller software.
Dante Controller routes AV signals between all Dante-enabled audio and video devices on your network. Configurations are saved directly to the devices themselves, ensuring the stability of your network through power cycles, device disconnection and system reconfiguration.
Dante Activator FAQ and Troubleshooting.
How do I download and activate my Dante Ready™ device
Follow our Dante Ready Quick Start Guide for details on the Dante IO License activation procedure.
What is the difference between Dante and RAVENNA/AES67?
Both Dante and RAVENNA are Audio-over-IP network protocols. While RAVENNA (which incorporates AES67) is an open standard, Dante is a proprietary standard with its owner Audinate ensuring interoperability. On the user side, Dante networks are easier to implement, but incur additional costs for licensing. RAVENNA is open source and requires no licensing fee, making it more cost effective.
AES67, developed by the Audio Engineering Society, is another open standard for Audio-over-IP interoperability. AES67 is basically the lowest common denominator of various Audio-over-IP protocols. While Dante can be run in AES67 mode, RAVENNA fully incorporates AES67. In other words, RAVENNA is AES67 with some added features.
In terms of audio quality, both Dante and RAVENNA transmit uncompressed audio. Dante supports sample rates up to 192kHz. However, if Dante is running in AES67 mode, only a fixed sampling rate of 48 kHz can be used. RAVENNA supports high-resolution audio with sample rates up to 192 kHz and even ultra-high resolution DXD (384 kHz) and DSD formats.
How can I use Dante with my Hapi Mk III or Dante Ready Anubis or MT 48 ?
To use Dante on a Hapi Mk III, Anubis or MT 48 with at Dante Ready sticker, you need to install the appropriate Dante firmware. Starting from firmware 1.7, those devices firmware comes in two variants, one for RAVENNA /AES67 and another for Dante.
Additionally, a Dante license must be purchased from Audinate. As of firmware 2.0, available license models are:
8x8, 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64 Dante channels for Hapi Mk III and Anubis
Note: Firmware greater and equal to 1.7 but lower than 2.0 only supported 16x16 and 6x64 licenses on Hapi Mk III, and 8x8 and 64x64 for SPS Dante Ready™
For interfacing with your computer, you may also need appropriate Dante driver software such as Dante Virtual Soundcard from Audinate.
Is there a Dante Ready™ option for the Hapi Mk II or previous Merging Technologies interfaces (Horus or Hapi 1st Gen)?
No, we’re sorry to say that a Dante Ready™ retrofit is not possible for those legacy products.
Can I run Dante and RAVENNA/AES67 on the same unit?
On a Hapi Mk III or Anubis with Dante Ready™ sticker, you can run either the stock RAVENNA/AES67 firmware or install the Dante firmware. You cannot run both firmware versions at the same time or switch between both instantly. You simply need to update the AoIP Firmware that suits your needs so RAVENNA/AES67 or Dante.
Note: Each those AoIP protocols have differences in their specifications, make sure you consult the respective User Manual.
Can I use Peering in Dante mode?
Peering is not supported in Dante mode, connections to expand your Dante IO network will have to be established from the Dante Controller software.
For adding and remote controlling other Merging devices or a Neumann MT 48, RAVENNA/AES67 is the best solution as Peering provides an easy way for I/O expansion and remote control.
What sample rates are supported in Dante mode, and how many Dante I/O channels are available?
License plans 8 x 8 IO - . 16 x 16 IO - 32 x 32 IO and 64 x 64 IO are offered as of May 2026.
Note: The Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS - ASIO/CoreAudio driver) channel count may differ.
What is the price of the Dante Ready IO Licenses?
The Prices are dictated by Audinate and subject to change.
Price are in USD and will vary with country currency.
What is the lowest supported Dante AES67 latency in AES67 mode and the highest sample rate?
1 ms is the lowest supported latency in AES67 mode.
48kHz is the only sampling rate supported in AES67 mode.
To run lower latencies and higher sample rates we recommend running the RAVENNA/AES67 firmware.
Note: Running in Dante mode can provide a latency as low as 0.25ms
Can I use Merging’s network audio software MAD, VAD and ANEMAN in Dante mode?
No, these software tools from Merging Technologies are the RAVENNA/AES support and do not apply to Dante
If you wish to connect your Dante-enabled Hapi Mk III or Anubis SPS to your computer via network, please use Dante driver software, e.g. Audinate’s Dante Virtual Soundcard (sold separately).
When running my interface in Dante mode will it unlock my VAD license?
VAD only supports RAVENNA/AES67 running units, please make sure you run the RAVENNA/AES67 firmware to unlock VAD.
How do I run and purchase a Dante IO plan?
First make sure you update your Hapi MkIII or Anubis interfaces so that they are running the Dante firmware. Only certified revisions of Anubis are authorized to install the Dante Firmware.
Once the firmware is installed connect your device to a system that runs Dante Controller. Form there open the Dante Activator that should discover your unit and propose two IO plans.
More details shortly.
Is the Dante Redundancy supported ?
Yes Merging Anubis SPS and Hapi MkIII do support the Dante Redundancy or can be used in Switch mode. Please refer to the Dante Appendix for all details on the Dante Redundancy activation.
In Dante mode, some settings, like latency, are not available on my device ?
Those settings (Master-Leader, Slave-Follower, External Sync, latency, …) can be accessed with the Dante Controller. Some other settings, like Peering, NMOS,…do not apply to Dante Networks, and are therefore removed.
Are the interfaces supporting Dante in 32bit?
Hapi MkIII, Anubis and MT 48 latest generations fully support Dante 32bit AoIP.
(32bit integer, not to confuse with 32bit Float)
How to I remote control and manage my Anubis or Hapi MkIII Dante interface?
We recommend installing the MTDiscovery 20.0.0 and above and MT Portal 1.2 and above application. Those applications will allow the firmware and software updates along with Remote Control and Web Access control access of your unit.
Note: The Merging ANEMAN, MAD and VAD are for RAVENNA/AES67 and do not support Dante mode.
In Dante under my settings I do not see the PTP Slave/Master clock option that was preset in RAVENNA/AES67
PTP Master / Slave are no longer accessible through device UI, such configuration is handled by Audinate and must be accessed with the Dante Controller.
About Dante Clock
All Dante-enabled devices use the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) across the network to synchronize their local clocks to a leader clock, providing sample-accurate time alignment throughout the network. One Dante device will be elected as the PTP Leader Clock for the network; all other Dante devices act as a PTP Follower Clocks to the elected leader clock. Although many Dante devices may be capable of becoming PTP
Leader Clock, only one device will win the election. Devices with clock inputs (e.g. Word Clock or AES3) will be preferred in the election process. A gigabit connected device is preferred over a device connected via 100Mbps. A tie-breaker rule of the lowest MAC address is used if several equivalent candidate leader clocks are available. The election process may be overridden by manually setting 'Preferred Leader' on a device.
Dante Clock Types
Each Dante hardware device can derive its clock from either its high-quality onboard clock circuit, or an externally connected word clock. In the case of Dante Virtual Soundcard, the computer’s clock will be used.
I do not see my Dante device online in Dante controller
There could be multiple causes for this
The switch configuration has not properly been followed, thus blocking the multicast IP addresses used for Dante’s discovery layer.
In this case, you can refer to our switches configuration guide as a reference : Dante devices Multicast Groups configuration - Cisco switches.
It is possible that the device has been enrolled in Dante Domain Manager, resulting in it disappearing from discovery a few seconds in.
If you do not have access to this Dante domain anymore, please follow Audinate’s Lonely Reset procedure: DDM: Unenrolling Dante Devices When DDM Is No Longer Available (Lonely Reset)
In Dante mode, some settings like latency, are not available on my device
Those settings (Master-Leader, Slave-Follower, External Sync, latency, …) can be accessed using the Dante Controller software. Some other settings, like Peering, NMOS, etc. do not apply to Dante Networks, and are therefore not available.