Neutrik Xirium, the "invisible cable" that preserves audio quality as if there were a physical cable

Xirium is Neutrik's new wireless system that allows the replacement of audio cables through a link that works in the 5 GHz band. Xirium is a real and revolutionary solution for complex situations where it is not possible to establish conventional cable-based audio lines.

Surely many sound professionals have experienced situations in which one or more audio cables were necessary and due to time constraints, difficult terrain or security reasons, they have not been able to deploy said cables. These situations would have been very different if the Xirium system of Neutrik.

Xirium is a product especially suitable for sound rental and live event production companies, as well as broadcasters, production companies, mobile units, and, in general, those who do production in remote locations and need to carry out rapid infrastructure deployments.

Many times it is not possible to deploy all the necessary cabling due to orographic difficulties; other times due to lack of personnel and time, or even due to safety regulations that prevent wiring in busy areas, evacuation exits, etc.

The concept of “invisible wire”

Xirium represents a radically new concept, which consists of replacing audio cables, just as they would go from one connector to another. It's that simple. Although there are products on the market that may seem similar, it is important to keep in mind that Xirium is not an intercom, nor is it a wireless microphone system. The easiest way to understand Xirium is to see it as an invisible cable, which takes us from an output connector (XLR or Jack) to an input connector. The audio quality is preserved as is, as if a physical cable really existed. There is no compression (neither data nor radio frequency) and the reliability is extremely high. Only some point-to-point optical link systems can offer similar qualities, but their price is several times the price of Xirium. On the other hand, an optical link requires a perfectly clear visual path at all times. A brief obstruction of said visual path would mean a total loss of audio for an instant.

DIWA technology

DIWA (Digital Wireless Audio) technology, developed by Neutrik, allows more than one uncompressed audio channel to be transmitted per each RF channel, since it is not the classic carrier modulation, but rather a sophisticated digital multiplex. Channel routing from transmitters to receivers is easily managed from the NX4TRX base station, directly or through a simple dedicated Windows application.

The audio signals transmitted by DIWA offer the quality of a cable. The technical data is impressive: 24-bit encoding and 48 KHz sampling rate, total harmonic distortion less than 0.01% @ 1KHz, signal-to-noise ratio greater than 105dB @ 1KHz and a delay of 3 milliseconds. Choosing the 5 GHz frequency band has eliminated the need for a channel management and approval process, saving time. Furthermore, the error correction function ensures robust and noise-free data packet transmission.

In addition, the transmission and reception protocol developed specifically for DIWA, FEC (forward error correction) and masking algorithms correct any irregularities, including those caused by the operation of the system's diversity antennas.

Plug and Play

Thanks to its easy setup and automatic RF management, searching for free frequencies and selecting channels are a thing of the past. With Xirium it is possible to establish a two-way audio connection, where the signal source and receiver can be integrated wirelessly. The 4-channel base unit (Xirium TRX), together with the portable transmit (Xirium TX) and receive (Xirium RX) units, are the basic expression of a Xirium network. With an expansion unit the network can be easily expanded up to a total of 8 channels. Assignment and selection of input and output channels is easy, allowing flexible use of the network. Once the Xirium network is activated, it is available for immediate use, saving precious time and allowing the user to focus on other aspects of work. Truly “plug and play”.