re: X32 Discussion
AES50 IS NOT ETHERNET! it happens to use the same physical layer (layer 1 - i.e. connectors, cabling and electrical signalling) as Ethernet/IEEE802.3, probably because it's (a) quite reliable and (b) cheap as chips. However, it does not use the Ethernet datalink layer (layer 2), which defines the format of the Ethernet packet, so it cannot be carried over normal Ethernet switches, and it does not use the internet protocol (IP) at the routing layer (layer 3) so it cannot be carried over any type of IP router, wireless or otherwise.
There are very good reasons for this; both Ethernet layer 2 and IP layer 3 are probabilistic in nature - they do no guarantee to deliver a packet and when they do, it is not possible to predict exactly when - latency and jitter are indeterminate and vary depending on multiple factors. This would not be good for audio.
Whilst it is possible to design Ethernet and IP networks with very low latency (I do it for a living), this still only get down to 100's of microseconds, and there is still significant spread and jitter in the latencies obtained.
