Muxlab company introduction
Muxlab is a company located in Canada. According to their website they focus on transport of AV signals. This is what Muxlab says about themselves:
We believe in quality, performance, and reliability and we design & engineer all our products in Canada with this focus in mind.
Recently, at the beginning of November 2023 they added a Dante product line into their portfolio. One of these products is the Dante 2 channel Encoder/Decoder. I jumped on it, bought it from Muxlab and put it out for a ride in our Dante Lab.
What is the Muxlab Dante 2 channel USB interface?
The Muxlab is an interface between a USB host device and the Dante network. So, you can for instance use it to link a laptop or computer with a Dante network. It provides 2 channels for transmitting and 2 channels for receiving Dante audio. Within the Muxlab they make use of the Audinate UltimoX2 board.
The Muxlab is USB Audio Class compliant on the USB Host side. This means that it will work with an iPad as well as any other Class compliant hardware like for instance an Akai MPC Live 2 sampler.
The Muxlab can be powered through its network connector using PoE or on the USB connector. If both are supplied at the same time it is not clear which power supply it will prefer.
What makes the Muxlab 2 channel USB interface unique?
The reason that this USB interface unit caught my eye is the sample rate implementation on the unit. There is a wall between the USB sample rate and the Dante network sample rate. So, the USB can be configured at 44.1KHz or 48KHz with 16 bits and on the Dante network you can set the sample rate of the Muxlab between 44.1KHz and 96KHz with 16, 24 or 32 bits. This means that the Muxlab does an internal sample rate conversion. In general, converting in digital flows should be avoided if possible but having it done properly could open doors for equipment that could normally not be connected to the Dante network. For instance, an Akai stand-alone sampler MPC-X or MPC Live 2. Akai supports USB audio class complaint audio interfaces but only on 44.1KHz. The Audinate AVIO USB adapter runs on 48KHz and cannot be changed into 44.1KHz.
Setting up the Muxlab 2 channel USB interface
The MuxLab has one Dante network port so you can connect it only to your primary network. On the USB side it is delivered with a USB-AB cable but with an adapter it will also work on a USB-C host.
On the computer side the MuxLab will be shown as a USB Audio Device. You can select a sample rate of 441.KHz or 48KHz, both at 16bit. On the Dante network it will appear as any other Dante hardware unit. Configuration is done with the Dante Controller App. It supports a sample rate from 44.1 till 96KHz and a bit rate of 16, 24 or 32. The Muxlab can transmit maximum 2 flows at the same time. The Muxlab also supports the AES67 standard.The device latency can be set on 1ms, 2ms and 5ms. I used it at 1ms with no issues. The latency network was stable around 400us.
The Muxlab USB encoder/decoder in use
After more than a day of operation the “clock history” shows a stable internal clock.
The transmitting part does what is says on the tin, it works stable and transmits a stereo channel to a destination. It can support 2 flows at the same time. After that you cannot setup another connection to a third device in the routing tab of the Dante Controller.
Receiving is something else. Although in the Dante network it seems to work al fine when connecting the Muxlab to a transmitter, on the computer side the Muxlab output is shown as a mono microphone channel that contains the audio from the left channel only. A big miss here. After contacting Muxlab about this, it sadly seems not possible to fix this error because there is no way to update the firmware.
The Muxlab does not charge your iPad when connecting to it. That is a difference with for instance the Audinate Dante AVIO USB interface that does charge your phone or tablet. I can imagine you would like to have a full comparison between both units and that is within the pipeline (keep an eye on our website).
How does the Muxlab 2 channel USB interface sounds?
Great having technology available but at the end of the day it is the sound that matters. Sound is of course a very personal thing and depends on your references as well as what you’re used to.
I created two streams to my monitor controller (that supports 16 Dante inputs). One stream uses the Muxlab converter, and the other stream uses the RME Digiface Dante interface. Both units are on the Dante side configured at 96KHz sample rate with 32 bits. The Muxlab connection with the computer was set on a 48KHz sample rate with 16bits (this is the maximum it supports). Then I played the same track and switched between both inputs in my mastering room.
Both sound great but on high volume I did notice a sound color difference between the RME Digiface and the Muxlab interface. The Muxlab sounded a little bit brighter, a little bit more 1-2KHz, subtle but noticeable. When there is no audio playing, or even an iPad or computer connected to the Muxlab, the Muxlab seems to generate some “digital noise”. I could measure this with the dB meters within the monitor controller (but also on another DA converter). The noise level is average around -86dB, peak values are around -75dB. I also checked the RME DigiFace and the RME is dead quiet on the meters. I even moved the Muxlab to another network switch, but the noise stayed equal. So, it belongs to the unit.
Article continuous after the picture.
My 2 cents for the Muxlab Dante 2-channel USB Encoder/Decoder
The approach of building an encoder/decoder for Dante where the sample frequency and bit depth are unlinked between the computer and the Dante network is useful and handy. It opens the door for a lot of stand-alone music production hardware that otherwise would not have the possibility of connecting with a Dante network.
That the receiving part on the Muxlab only gives a mono – left channel – signal is a real bummer. The measured digital noise was unexpected. Maybe there is some aliasing going on?
My wish is that based on the Muxlab idea there will be encoders/decoders providing 8, 16 or 32 channels in and out. That would be heaven for me as Akai MPC-X user. Connecting my sampler in a studio directly into the Dante network and then selecting a DA converter of choice or end up in the studio mixing console. Something to wish for.
Leave a comment and become member of our Facebook Group All4Dante
About All4Dante
All4Dante is an independent platform for Dante equipment and networks. We perform tests and reviews of equipment in our own Dante lab and share the results on our platform. We see a future for Dante in the recording and pro-studio environment as well as in the music instrument segment. By addressing audience related topics we want to support the migration to a more AoIP world.
