A new Dante card for Sennheiser’s top-of-the-range Digital 9000 enables the wireless microphone system to be integrated into Dante audio-over-IP networks.

The DAN extension card is simply inserted into the expansion slot of the EM 9046 receiver. Internally, the card features 16 audio inputs to send the digital audio and command signals over the Dante network. Connection is via two Gbit RJ45 sockets that serve to either establish two redundant network circuits or daisy-chain the signals. The card works with sampling rates of 44.1/48/88.2 and 96 kHz at a resolution of 24 bits.

“With the EM 9046 DAN extension card, broadcast and live audio engineers can now easily integrate Sennheiser’s top-of-the-range wireless microphone system into a Dante network,” says Claus Menke, head of portfolio management pro for Sennheiser. “They benefit from the system’s exceptional sound with the incredible convenience of routing high-definition audio data via Audinate’s Dante Controller.”

Also now available as free downloads from this website are the new firmware version 3.0.3, and Wireless Systems Manager 4.2 software, offering a set of optimised monitoring functions.

With v3.0.3, the receiver’s clock menu will be expanded to include a MAN (multichannel audio network) option, allowing it to synchronise to the word clock of the Dante network.

Other benefits include monitoring of up to four daisy-chained receivers through any of the monitoring outputs and the automatic assignment of frequencies after a scan. Engineers are now also able to scan just a 24 MHz portion of the spectrum, which helps increase speed in critical frequency situations.

The new firmware also includes refinements made to address the "near impossible" conditions experienced during the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. The event took place in a super-reflective venue, and so the capabilities of the Digital 9000 system were enhanced further to be able to detect and cope with the challenges, the firm says. Version 3.0.3 also ensures improved network capability with managed enterprise environments.

The Wireless Systems Manager software now provides a monitoring function for the Dante card. v4.2 lets users monitor the EM 9046’s Dante audio streams from any point in the network, and listen to the headphone monitor audio stream of connected EM 9046 receivers without any additional hardware.