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

Sorry everybody. I also use the Airfoil / AEX / DacMagic combo. Did all the updates and still have intermittent skips (also when just using itunes), although they are less than in the past. Very frustrating.

I am now looking for a replacement for the AEX, which I bought two weeks ago along with the rest of my stereo system. Despite being an apple fan I am not impressed by all I have experienced and what I have read in the forums. The DacMagic delivers great sound, though. That is piece of kit I will definitely keep!

FWIW It sounds like I have a variant on the problem...

I can stream fine by connecting directly to the Airport Express (via 802.11b IIRC) but I also have a Time Capsule connected via ethernet to the Airport Express. I can connect via 802.11n to the Time Capsule and still stream to the express but get occasional dropouts of maybe half a second each. Perhaps one dropout every ten minutes. I take it nobody knows how or why?

Dave

I believe I have a identical problem, analog out works fint but optical out stutters and skips.

It is only the combination AirPort Express 802.11n + optical out + iTunes 8 that displays this problem for me.

* With iTunes 7 in the same setup I used to have no problems.
* A older AirPort Express 802.11g (optical out) play without stutter with iTunes 8.
* The analog out on the AirPort Express works in all cases.

See also http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8192040#8192040

I have the same problem. When I play music through iTunes (now 8.1) and Airport Express 802.11n with an optical cable I get skips all the time.

Yup, I'm having exactly the same problem: I can work around with iTunes 7.x, or AE 802.11g (my fix), or analogue out.

I filed it in Radar under bug 6236044 which Apple belatedly marked as a duplicate of 6578473.

This is a problem with Airport Express. I wrote to Emm Labs, the maker of my DAC. I received this reply:

"With regards to the AEX issues:

These issues are specific to the AEX which has bad range and sync which widely varies when using the TOSLINK. This results in intermittent drop outs and causes any external DAC to lose lock since either there is no audio data (packet loss) or the sync signal has varied completely out of tolerance.
Also when there is no music (in between tracks) the AEX sends no audio data or sync which also causes DACs to lose lock (via TOSLINK).

There is no firmware (accept if there is an update to the AEX) to address this issue since we don’t have this issue with any other source as you have also seen, when you connected the DCC2 via TOSLINK directly up to the Mac. You don’t have this problem with the analog outputs because the AEX probably uses a large buffer to capture and store audio data prior to sending this to its converter. This avoids the drop outs and loss of sync. however it adds a horrendous amount of latency and jitter to the final converted audio."

This problem is one that Apple needs to handle so users of the optical out can actually use the feature. This problem is reported so often and has not been fixed.

For certain DACs you can get a firmware fix. Those who use Cambridge Audio: I know that if you write them with your problem they will send you a firmware upgrade. I don't know what the change does to your DAC or if it will change the sound quality of your DAC (user beware...).

Chiming in, too, with a post I put on Head-fi.org:

Since I switched the more detailed Denon D5000, I've noticed distortion in my chain, too. I'm also using the Airport Express. For me, it's a swishy, almost static-y sound. I wish I could describe it better. It seems to happen (or I notice it more) with higher frequencies. But the strange thing is that it goes away when I scrub back/rewind and reply. In other words, it's almost completely not-repeatable. Ugh.

The problem seems to go away when I go from MacBook > mini optical toslink > DAC. I definitely need to do more comparison to make sure.

Finally, I've tried turning off my iPhone to eliminate any RF interference. I've swapping in a 3-prong extension cord to my Airport Express. Moved the Express further away from my DAC. None of these variations seem to make a difference. And now that I hear the distortion/noise/static on my Denons, I started to notice them on my HD-650s, too.

Forward to iTunes 8.2 and still no fix? I assume from reading many forums that this is a software issue with iTunes and its interaction with the Airport Express n, as iTunes 7.x does not exhibit this problem with the g or n models. Strange that it is confined to the optical out only, and only on the n model.

Come on Apple, I hope you are working on this irritating bug... are you reading your feedback emails??

Airport Express/Extreme firmware update 7.4.2 has made no difference either.

I have the same problem. Airfoil stutters when i have no problems using airtunes. I also use the DAC magic. Driving me crazy!!

Pretty much the same issue - except I can't get any signal registering with the toslink into the cambridge dacmagic from either the AX(n) or macbook direct. The optical cable is fine - cd transport into dacmagic works without issue. The analogue out is also fine through the AX.
I might try 1. itunes 7.7 say & 2. go to cambridge & see what they have.
Apple Australia techs are 'looking into it', after I contacted them. I'll let you know if anything comes of anything. Any other ideas??

This an official response from Cambridge Audio UK, July 7, 2009:

"These issues are specific to the AEX which has bad range and sync which widely varies when using the TOSLINK. This can result in intermittent drop outs and causes any external DAC to lose lock since either there is no audio data (packet loss) or the sync signal has varied completely out of tolerance.
Also when there is no music (in between tracks) the AEX sends no audio data or sync which also causes DACs to lose lock (via TOSLINK).
This problem is one that Apple needs to handle so users of the optical out can actually use the feature. This problem is reported so often and has not as yet been fixed by them."

Is this in reference to the Airport Express N only? Because I used to have an Airport Express G hooked up to my Zeppelin via mini TOSLINK without issues on iTunes 7.

Yes it is only the combination AirPort Express 802.11n + optical out + iTunes 8 that displays this problem.

Fredrik, in your previous post you imply that the Airport Express N and iTunes 7 works without problems with the optical out. If this is true, this means it must be a software (iTunes) issue only. Yes?