Harpa, a concert hall and conference center in the heart of Reykjavík, Iceland, pivoted to virtual events due to the pandemic using an Audinate Dante-based audio environment that utilizes a Studio Technologies Model 5401A Dante Leader Clock to help maintain precise timing on the network.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have been shifting our infrastructure to Dante to meet the demand for the surge in virtual and streamed events,” says Andri Guðmundsson, technical director for the venue. “The Model 5401A Leader Clock from Studio Technologies has provided us with a solid master clock to support all timing needs with our Dante operations.”
The Model 5401A is designed to provide presice timing signals for applications that leverage Dante Audio-over-IP media networking technology, implementing a high-performance IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) server in delivering PTP v1 for Dante and PTP v2 for AES67 compatibility. Guðmundsson also notes the unit’s dual power supply capability and multiple “GigE” Ethernet features as beneficial to the venue, as only power and one, two, or three Ethernet network connections are required for full operation.
“We recently hosted a conference for the Icelandic Medical Society, which we streamed eight hours a day from four of our venues for five consecutive days,” he adds. “Having reliable timing capabilities with our setup was a must have, and the Model 5401A Leader Clock was able to provide that throughout the conference.”
Guðmundsson also notes that the unit supports the Dante Domain Manager software application, which Harpa leverages to coordinate its overall Dante workflow.
