AVB Stream Size and Format

In an AVB network, a stream describes a connection between a talker and one or more listeners. It consists of a fixed number of audio channels at a fixed sample rate. The stream port of the talker and the listener must be configured to have the same amount of channels and stream format, with one exception: streams with less than eight channels can be connected to a listener stream ports of eight channels. Once a stream is connected, each AVB switch along its way ensures that the audio channels can pass in time.

For audio transport, AVB audio endpoints support the AM824 Stream Format or the more efficient AVTP Audio Format (AAF). Additionally, they may support the Clock Reference Format (CRF), which contains only clock information, but no audio.

The M-1620 Pro supports a total of eight incoming audio streams and eight outgoing audio streams with up to 16 channels in each, and an additional clock reference format stream for clocking that does not contain any audio channels.