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Airport Express: Optical out: Itunes 8 skips, 7 works, Airfoil still skips

For a few weeks now i've been streaming from itunes and airfoil to my AX connected by analogue to my amp...no problem there, everything worked fine. I then purchased a Cambridge Audio DACmagic and went the optical route to improve quality. I experience small jumps in the music...there doesn't seem to be any sequence; they're irregular. It sounds like a small skip on a CD and i can see the signal light flicker off on the DAC for a fraction of second. I can plug the powerbook directly in the DAC optically and there's no problem.

Now, following the advice on a few threads, i've downgraded from itunes 8 to 7. That's solved the problem when streaming from itunes, the optical out from the AX works fine... I'll wait until i'm sure apple have fixed the problem before going back to 8.

However, my current problem is that i regularly listen to last.fm and spotify etc through airfoil. This has the same problem as itunes 8......small skips every 30 seconds or so.

I know it's not the radio stream (works perfectly through analogue and optically direct from laptop)
I know it's not the DAC (work perfectly optically from laptop)
I know it's not the wireless network (works perfectly through the analogue out from AX)

Any advice ??????

Powerbook 15" 2.4 intel core duo, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 23, 2009 7:24 AM

100 replies

Glady8r

Level 1

4 points

Aug 19, 2009 4:58 PM in response to barrymanifold

I have the same problem with the Cambridge Audio 840C that I just bought. When I use an optical cable, I get skips and distortion. I wrote to cambridge Audio and got this reply:
Thank you for your email.
Our engineers and those at Anagram Technologies have identified a 'quirk' with the optical output of the Airport Express.

Basically, the Airport does not output a smooth SPDIF clocking. Every now and then, the Airport will sporadically adjust its output clock to track the desired sampling rate.
These adjustments are very sudden and are the cause of the noises and/or drop-outs described.

This is not something which could have been foreseen as it is an apparent 'quirk' of the optical output from the Airport Express and not due to the 840C. Our engineers have however, developed an update which mitigates the effects of this irregularity.

This update has obviously been worked into current production, but existing units would need to be updated if this problem persists with the DacMagic.

If you contact our distributor they will be able to arrange for your CD player to have the appropriate update carried out. This will need to be done by an engineer.

They are contactable on the details below;

Audio Plus Services
156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive
Champlain, NY, 12919
Web: www.audioplusservices.com
Email: djacques@audioplusservices.com
Telephone: 800-663-9352
Fax: 866-656-0686

I trust the above information is of assistance to you.

Kind regards,
Ben Beaumont

I'm sending my CD player in for the update. I'll let you know if it works.

Aug 19, 2009 10:32 PM in response to Glady8r

The answer of Cambridge is puzzling :
- if it's a quirk of the AEX, why does it behave differently according to the various version of iTunes ?
- some modified AEX (Rosita, Zardoz) process through a digital coaxial output (the engineer were able to identify the right connexion point in the AEX). I do have one at home (Zardoz : http://www.db-system.fr/bd_system/ZArdoZ.html) and never ever had any drop out nor noise or any malfunctioning.

For me, it's linked to the quality of data transmitted to the optical output, and various versions of Itunes/Airtunes apparently behave differently in that respect.

We start hearing about a version 9 of iTunes ... let's hope the fix is included !

gasboy

Level 1

39 points

Aug 27, 2009 2:52 AM in response to Captain Deho

I agree, iTunes 7 works with the AEn, so it can't be hardware. iTunes 9/OS 10.6 fix pls. We'll see tomorrow

Sep 10, 2009 1:06 AM in response to gasboy

I did not have this problem under iTunes 8.x - but I have it now with iTunes 9.

I'm running it AEx 802.11g FW 6.3 -> toslink -> DacMagic - prior to upgrade it was flawless

I googled and found this thread.

Sep 10, 2009 10:11 AM in response to barrymanifold

I get skips with iTunes 9 but they're not too bad: only a second or two, and very infrequent. They were worse for me with iTunes 8.

Sep 12, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Jeff Bailey

I've been searching about this problem for months...it does seem to be an iTunes 8 problem. I tried downgrading to iTunes 7.x and there were no skips.
I just installed iTunes 9 feeling hopeful that the problem might be solved.

NO.

There is still occasional skipping. This is insane. WHY CAN'T THEY FIX THIS PROBLEM???

Has anyone upgraded to Snow Leopard? I wonder if that might help the situation.

😟

Sep 13, 2009 6:21 AM in response to barrymanifold

Still the same problems with Snow Leopard and iTunes 9 : no improvement at all, many drop-outs, frequency depending upon the song being played. Some skip every 2 seconds, some others irregularly ...

gasboy

Level 1

39 points

Sep 13, 2009 10:51 PM in response to Riccardelli

I agree. This is INSANE. Interestingly I tried my old setup with an Airport Express G connected via ethernet to an Airport Extreme and .... NO DROPOUTS AT ALL (iTunes 9/Snow Leopard). Would like to try my Airport Express N like this, but I've run out routers lol. Also, what's the point? Airtunes is supposed to be AIRtunes, not ETHERNETtunes.

So, Snow Leopard and iTunes 9 = dropouts

Sep 23, 2009 3:39 AM in response to barrymanifold

My 2 cents:

I have an AEn in a network provided by an AXn. I have two MacBook Pros: one with 802.11g and one with 802.11n.

After upgrading to Snow Leopard, music started randomly dropping out for few seconds (I use analog output though) from my new (802.11n) MBP. However, when streaming from the old MBP, it works fine. I started suspecting the network. I degraded the AXn to only use 802.11g, and the dropouts ceased.

So it definitely seems like the problem is related to 802.11n networking in my case - that might also explain why people with older AEg devices don't experience the problem. Interestingly, there were no problems with Leopard, only with Snow Leopard.

Oct 10, 2009 4:51 PM in response to Attila Szegedi

Since replacing my 802.11n AEX with an older 802.11b/g version I am now experiencing no audio stuttering problems. From my perspective at least problem fixed - thanks for nothing Apple and Cambridge Audio!!! As support organizations you've both been spectacularly inept in this particular instance.

To clarify - I am using a combination of ITunes 9/Spotify/Airfoil together with an optical connection from AEX to CA DacMagic. My advise to anyone no longer willing to wait for Apple or Cambridge Audio to fix this problem is to either downgrade their 802.11n AEX to an older/cheaper 802.11b/g variant (there are plenty on Ebay and you can probably make yourself £10-15 in the process if you 'trade down' like this) or get another DAC (e.g. Beresford and Moodlab DACs dont seem to suffer from this AEX clocking issue)

Oct 17, 2009 3:12 PM in response to barrymanifold

I am having the same issues. I KNOW it's not the optical output. I have had the Airport Express for many years and it has worked great... until i did some upgrading. I did several upgrades at once so I'm not sure where the problem lies. I updated my OS (Windows 7), upgraded iTunes (to 9), and upgraded my Airport Express firmware. I think that the problem lies in the firmware upgrade. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can downgrade the firmware and still have my network / system connect (the Airport Express setup didn't really like me with older firmware - it was a huge pain to setup and I don't want to go through that stuff again).

Apple, please address us...

Oct 20, 2009 8:56 PM in response to newton100

I just learned from a guy who tweaks AEX ( http://www.db-system.fr) that the digital output has been modified 2-3 weeks ago without any information from Apple to the market. I don't know if that is the fix that we are awaiting or if it brings any solution, but it would be interesting to try a new AEX ...

If it is the fix, that mean that we do not have other choice than to garbage the previous AEX and buy a new one : thank you Apple !!

gasboy

Level 1

39 points

Oct 22, 2009 5:57 PM in response to Captain Deho

This is really interesting news. Can't see myself buying a third airport express just yet... would be great if someone else wants to report back

Oct 25, 2009 1:27 PM in response to Fredrik Jonsson

I've got an older Airport Express (802.11b/g) that used to work fine receiving streamed music from iTunes. Ever since the iTunes 9.x upgrade, I have problems getting iTunes to see the airport. My work around has been to launch Airport Utility, modify anything on the Airport Express (usually enable / disable password required for streaming) and rebooting the Airport. Then, iTunes sees the device. Once I quit iTunes or put my laptop to sleep, I have to go through the same process to get iTunes to see it.

I was hoping an upgrade to an 802.11n express would fix things. Looks like the problem is deeper then just that.

gasboy

Level 1

39 points

Oct 29, 2009 5:02 PM in response to Paul Laskin

Does iTunes 9.0.2 fix this problem? I'm so over it I've disconnected the Airport Express

Airport Express: Optical out: Itunes 8 skips, 7 works, Airfoil still skips