Audinate has announced enhancements to its Dante Ultimo low-channel chipsets, including support for the Marvell 88E6320 gigabit switch, enabling robust daisy-chaining of Dante devices with multicast filtering capability.
Audinate has released Ultimo 2.1 firmware, adding features for A/V equipment manufacturers building low channel-count products with Dante Ultimo. Release 2.1 adds device control capabilities enabled by the Dante Device Protocol (DDP), which allows Ultimo messages and commands to be sent via SPI/UART from the host processor, accessing parameters such as channel subscriptions and clock status. DDP is well suited to integration of routing presets and front panel displays in Ultimo products. Additionally, Ultimo now supports 16-, 24- and 32-bit PCM audio, selected globally or per-channel as needed.
Ultimo is part of Audinate’s portfolio of high-performance Dante devices and is a family of complete, fully featured, single-chip Dante solutions for low channel-count networked audio products. The Ultimo family incorporates all the differentiated Dante features such as automatic device discovery, plug-and-play networking, custom device names and channel labels, and network-based firmware updates. Ultimo supports the use of networked powered speakers, microphones, A/V wallplates, speakerphones, amplifiers, paging stations, personal monitoring systems, recording interfaces, intercoms, and analogue/digital break-in/break out interfaces.
‘These new capabilities will expand the spectrum of low cost endpoint products for manufacturers developing low-channel-count networked audio products,’ says Audinate COO, David Myers. ‘They make daisy chaining easier and better exactly where it is needed – at network edges – and provide manufacturers with advanced capabilities for automation and display on their products, at an incredible price point.’
The Ultimo chips and Release 2.1 firmware are available immediately for A/V equipment manufacturers. The new parts are fully backwards compatible with existing Ultimo products. Ultimo is available in 2x2 channel (ULT-01-002) and 4x4 channel (ULT-01-004) configurations.
More: www.audinate.com
