Two paths through the same event. Attendees need a phone, headphones, and the event WiFi. Operators need a laptop, a router, and about ten minutes. Nobody needs a headset fleet.
A laptop at the front of house sends each audio channel onto the local WiFi network. Every phone on that network can pick up any channel it likes, through its own headphones. That's the whole idea — the rest of this page is the detail.
Your phone has to be on the event's WiFi to hear anything. The audio never travels over the internet — that's what makes it fast and free of dropouts, and it's also why cellular data won't help you. If you're not on the network, there's no sound.
From walking through the door to hearing the first track is usually under two minutes. You need your own headphones — wired ones work best, and we'll explain why below.
Install the NyxResonance app while you still have a data connection. It's free, and it's the only thing you need to bring besides headphones.
This is the first thing you do when you arrive. The network name is posted at the event — join it from your phone's settings like any other WiFi. Your phone may warn you that it has no internet; that's expected, and it's the point. This is an audio network, not an internet connection.
Open the app and tap Join Local Event. It finds the event running on the network by itself and shows it to you — there's nothing to type in, no code to enter, and no account to make.
You'll see the channels the operator is running, each with its own name and colour — the main room, a second DJ, commentary, a quieter alternative. Tap one. Switch as often as you like — switching takes a second or two and doesn't interrupt anyone else.
Sound starts within a couple of seconds. Your phone's own volume control is your volume control — everyone in the room sets their own level, which is most of the appeal.
Bluetooth headphones add a delay of their own — usually a fraction of a second, but how much depends on the headphones and the handset, and no two are quite alike. If you're dancing next to someone, or there's live sound in the room, wired headphones keep you in step with everyone else.
Whatever delay there is applies to the whole room equally, so the crowd stays together — it isn't a race between fast phones and slow ones. The exception is headphones: a Bluetooth pair adds its own delay on top, which is why wired is the safe choice if you're dancing beside someone.
You need a laptop for the console, a WiFi router, and a phone you're signed in on. Steps 1 and 2 happen before the day; the rest take about ten minutes at the venue.
Sign in to the operator portal, create your event, and set how many channels you want to run. The portal gives you a QR code for the event — you won't need to hand it to attendees, but as you'll see in step 5 it's what switches your console on.
Power up the router and connect the console laptop to it with an ethernet cable. Leave the router's internet port empty — the event network doesn't need the internet, and keeping it off the network is what keeps the audio clean.
Launch the console and give it a name — "Main Stage", "Front of House". The name is how other operators and your own phone identify it on the network, which matters as soon as there's more than one console in the building.
Every channel needs something to play. Pick FILE to stream an audio file (wav, mp3, flac, aiff, m4a and more), or INPUT to take a live feed from a mixer, audio interface, or the laptop's own input. Meters appear as soon as the source is running, so you can set levels before anyone is listening.
This is the step people miss. On your phone, signed in as the operator and on the same WiFi, scan your own event QR code. That hands the console the key it needs to stream, and its status flips from NO KEY to KEY.
Press LAN LIVE on each channel you want streaming. Attendees on the network hear it within seconds, and the console shows you how many people are listening on each channel. Press it again to stop.
Run the app's Network Test from a phone on the event WiFi. It measures loss and jitter and tells you plainly whether the network is ready — a five-minute check that catches nearly every problem while you can still do something about it. The full pre-event checklist is on the setup page.
Worth understanding, because it explains both the strengths and the one real constraint.
Each channel goes onto the network as a single multicast stream — roughly 160 kbps, sent one time, not once per listener.
Each phone asks the network for the channel it wants. Ten listeners or three hundred, the console sends exactly the same amount of data.
The audio is encrypted and stays on the local network. No servers in the middle, no internet dependency, nothing to go down mid-set.
WiFi doesn't deliver every packet at a perfectly even pace, so each phone holds a small buffer of audio — around a sixth of a second by default — and plays out of it smoothly. That's what stops a busy network turning into stuttering audio. Every listener is buffered the same way, so the crowd stays together.
For a headphones-only event it makes no difference at all — everyone is delayed by the same amount, so the room is in step with itself. If you're running phone audio alongside a live PA or a stage, expect the phones to sit slightly behind the room, and plan for that when you place your speakers.
Operator access is free during the beta programme. Start with the network setup guide — it's the part worth reading twice.