Yes, a Dante card is required for any audio to pass to/from DC16. Could you make it work just for control without a Dante card, maybe? Mackie runs MANDOLIN (the control protocol) over the Dante primary (if you’re running redundant) interface, so I suppose it’s possible that without a Dante card you could connect Dante primary (A) or WiFi control port on DC16 to the Wi-Fi control port or your wifi router just for control. Not sure though, and I can’t tear my system apart to test that theory right now sadly.