Multi-channel digital wireless audio system

In a multi-channel digital wireless audio system with at least one transmit node and at least one receive node, each node can both receive and transmit digital audio signals. Signals sent from a receive node to a transmit node may acknowledge satisfactory signal receipt, or may requesting retransmission of data packets received in a corrupted state. Original and retransmitted signals may be sent in compressed form to enable use of narrow-band digital radios. The system preferably incorporates a dual control channel to enable transmission of meta data. Each system node preferably incorporates a hardware-multithreaded processor adapted to implement various functions such as baseband functions, RF protocol functions, error correction functions, and audio processing functions, with each independent thread being adapted to implement a different functional block.