AirPort Express 2nd gen Airplay problems

I recently bought a 2nd gen AirPort Express as an upgrade from a Bluetooth adapter. I use it for my outdoor sound system to stream music from my MacBook Pro and iPhone, as well with others guests with their devices. The problem is the audio is really laggy, there is like a 4 sec delay when pausing/playing and skipping songs. The audio also cuts out some times, and if it is behind, it will try to keep up by skipping over the delayed parts. The audio path is AirPort Express > mixer > power amplifier > speakers. It is joined over WiFi to my router, which is an AirPort Extreme 802.11ac.

iPhone XR

Posted on Jun 29, 2020 8:41 AM

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19 replies

jimmyl_8214 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2020 11:54 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you! Airfoil didn't work, but that could be very useful with other things. From some Googling, I think the 3-4 sec delay is just a part of the Express. If it is, can I "hack" it to get rid of the delay?

jimmyl_8214 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2020 9:24 AM in response to Tesserax

The audio path I was referring to was the analog audio path, after the AirPort Express, but thank you.

jimmyl_8214 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2020 11:47 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Thank you for all your help. Since they are commonly found for less than $100 used on ebay, I'll probably buy another one.

Bob Timmons

Level 10

196,018 points

Jun 29, 2020 12:17 PM in response to jimmyl_8214

Good luck. As Tesserax has already noted, delays are common.....2s or more is pretty much the norm. Mine is in the 3-4s range. AirPlay on the Express is basically a 10+ year old design with no internal "clock".

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AirPort Express 2nd gen Airplay problems