Chauvet DJ D-Fi Hub 2

I purchased the D-Fi Hub 2 and XLR-RX receivers for a touring lighting rig, but unfortunately found the wireless performance unsuitable for fast-moving, tightly synchronised lighting effects.

After noticing visible stepping during fast chases, I built a test using numbered DMX frames to measure actual throughput rather than relying on the advertised refresh rate.

My results were consistent across multiple tests:

Direct wired DMX: 31 unique frames per second.

Through the Hub 2's wired output: 29–32 unique frames per second, effectively no additional loss.

Through the D-Fi wireless link: Just 11 unique frames per second, with approximately 75% of the original 44 fps source frames lost.

Interestingly, the wireless receiver continued outputting around 38 frames per second, but most were repetitions of previously received data. This means a conventional DMX analyser could report a perfectly respectable refresh rate without revealing the actual limitation.

I repeated the wireless tests six times, including with my nearby Wi-Fi router switched off, different antenna positions and different D-Fi channels. The results were virtually identical every time.

To Chauvet's credit, their technical support was helpful and explained that the limitation relates to the wireless chipset. This appears to be a hardware limitation rather than a defective unit.

For static lighting, slow fades and basic colour changes, the system may work perfectly well. However, for fast chases, pixel effects or tightly synchronised lighting, the effective update rate is a significant limitation.

I'm giving it two stars because the hardware works consistently and the wired output performs well, but I think the wireless throughput limitation deserves much greater prominence in the product specifications.

Unfortunately, I've returned mine and gone back to wired DMX.