Airplay audio cuts out intermittently

Hello all,

I've been battling intermittent audio dropouts for a while racking my brain trying to figure out why the audio drops o. I must have read for 10 hours on forums and website. I FINALLY figured out my problem!!!

I am using a Cisco E4200v2 router with simultaneous 2.4ghz/5ghz support with separate SSID's. For me, my two iPads could send AirPlay audio without a hitch but any iPhone 4/4s on my network couldn't go more than 20 seconds without dropping out.

In the end, all I had to do was disable the 5ghz band on the router and now I'm a happy camper.

Maybe when I get an iPhone 5 I can enable the 5ghz band again. For noe though, I need to use my 4S for AirPlay.

Sorry man, iPhone 5 doesn't address the problem in its current state. I have the same issue as you... I just connect the the 2.4GHz band rather than the 5GHz one and that solves my problem. No idea why this is...

Airplay sound occasional sound dropout s - Solved 🙂

Set up:

• DENON RCD-N7 Airplay Compatible
• ZyXel P-660H ADSL modem + router (very old no wireless turned on)
• AirPort Express 2009 (I guess 4. Gen), act as WLAN router
• MacBook Pro mid 2011, iPad 3 iOS 6, iPhone 5

Problem:

I was experiencing occasional sound dropout when I airplay to my Denon RCD-N7 form iMac , iPad and iPhone. I was also having sudden response issues from Bluetooth apple aluminium keyboard and trackpad too.

Analysis:

What I realize was around my apartment there are so many networks using 801.11g and more or less on same channels. I used a Mac wireless discovery tool iStumbler (Mac tool) for wireless discovery. In my AirProt Express radio mode was “801.11b/g compatible” and channel “Automatic”. If other networks are also using the same radio modes (801.11b and 801.11g ) and use same channels (1-13) like mine there should be a conflict.

Solution:

1. My first approach was to get out of 801.11b/g mode. I set the wireless radio mode setting of AirPort Express to 801.11n only (5 Ghz) mode in Airport utility (just type AirPort in spotlight search in Mac and you’ll find the program). Don’t forget to upload!
2. Then I realize the Denon RCD-N7 has no internet connection. Because it’s WLAN module is not n standards compatible. I changed the wireless connection of Denon to wired connection and hooked it up to the router. And it got immediately recognize from all of my Apple devices as an Airplay compatible device.

I thought AirPlay only works if a device connected over WLAN. But I was wrong!

Problem solved no more sound dropouts and no more problems with Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad.

My setup

AirPort Extreme (2012) -NAT & DHCP

Airport Express (prev gen)

Mac mini (1000gb Ethernet, 2009)

Qnap NAS 412

All audio files on NAS, iTunes library on Mac Mini

Issue

Primary: when playing audio files to airport express file plays but audio drops after a while. Rejoins and drops. When I start and stop - there is no problem.

NO ISSUE WHEN STREAMING INTERNET RADIO. Only network activity is iTunes playback.

Secondary. Noticing 1 second sound drops with iTunes 11 on wired only playback.

Anyone have luck with Airfoil? Seemed to work fine in brief trial. Shame that apple can't a) support QoS with airport or Airplay. Network should support music no problem. B) no buffer in AirPlay.

I was experiencing too heavy sound drops. But following the below mentioned steps I was able to minimize the issue.

1. I changed the Wireless standard from 802.11b&g compatible to 802.11n only 5Ghz

a. Setting can be made using AirPort Utility on Mac or on iPad, iPhone

2. Bring the transmitting (Mac, iPad) and receiving device (AirPort express) physically closer to each other

a.Even though the devices show full Wi-Fi signal strength AirPlay sound drops. Try bringing devices closer helps.

3. If the location of Wi-Fi routers and devices are separated by walls

a. You can use Powerline-adapter.

b. I can recommend the ZyXEL PLA4211 .

My setup: MacBook Pro, iPhone 5, iPad, actual Apple TV, AirPort Express 2009

I would like is to hear from someone who uses the latest (2012) AirPort devices (Express, Extreme, time capsule). If they are also facing this AirPlay sound drop problem.

Have the original airport express. Going N won't help.

The router is beneath the Express. Everything else is wired 1000 Gb. I've tried the 192.IP range ... Not it. Also increasing the cross fade to over 5 sec. Face it. Apple has terrible networking skills. No QoS on AirPort Extreme. Poor show

I experience annoying audio dropouts from B&W A7 Airplay speakers. A7 is located downstairs and wireless router (Westell 327W) is upstairs (office). I am streaming from new iPod touch, not PC. I suspect the problem is signal quality/strength from the router. Is there a way to improve this? New router? Signal booster? Other trick wireless setup? Hard wiring is not possible.

Other info: Music dropped this morning, even with the PC off (but router on). I noticed the wireless signal indicator on my iPod occasionally drops from 3 bars to 2 while downstairs listening. When I walked into basement, the indicator dropped to 1 bar and music stopped. While standing next to the router upstairs, there was no drop in audio downstairs even when I turned on PC, opened Outlook to download mail, then downloaded Flash Player update. Thus, it seems that I am not streaming directly from the iPod to the A7, but rather the streaming is going from the iPod up to the router then from the router to the A7. Is that correct?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

One more piece of information in case it matters. I also have an Airport Express upstairs, in my den (which is room next to office where router is located). The AE is tied into my Yamaha soundbar so that I can stream music to the soundbar if I want to listen in my den. Since the AE is part of my wifi network, I didn't know if somehow the AE affected whatever routing is going on in my system. (I was surprised to find that if I turned off my router, the wireless streaming to my soundbar via AE also stopped. Perhaps I should unjoin the AE from my wifi network. While this would prevent me from streaming from my PC, I believe I could still stream directly from my iPod to the AE since it worked before I figured out how to get it to join my network.)

One additional pc of info: While streaming from iPod to A7 (standing upstairs), I unplugged the AE and this had no effect on streaming. So I gather the presence of the AE is not the source of the dropouts or has an adverse effect on wifi signal.

I have this same audio-dropout problem, ONLY when trying to Airplay music playing in iTunes on my iPad (third-gen) to my Apple TV 3. The other devices in the house (MBP, iMac, three iPod touches and an iPhone) seem to stream perfectly. And here's the part that has me puzzled: I can Airplay huge 1080p movie files (in iTunes) from the iPad to the ATV with utter perfection. No hitches or dropouts in video or audio. The ATV is connected via WiFi, btw. Suggestions?

I have two A5 wireless speakers. When I stream music from my iMac or Pc the music, radio, pordcasts etc. stream flalessly. However when I open up an app on my iPad 2 or iPad mini and try to stream from the device directly to the home network the A5 speakers cut out repeatedly. The problem is not with the B&W Airplay speakers. The problem is somehwnere in the wirless connection going directly through the iPad to the home network to the A5 Speakers.

Joe

I installed the new Airport Express and was also having the stuttering problems. Then I read here about shutting down the 5GHz network and only using the 2.4 and it now works perfectly. This also had the benefit of making my multiple airports in my house work better with my 12 different devices.

Maybe it has something to do with the 5GHz network.

I finally resoved the constant drop-out after 3 frustrating days of fiddling around. (My model is the A1264)

Here is a good list of 12 steps to go through:

http://blog.bizmodeller.com/post/2011/08/21/10-Ways-to-Make-an-Airport-Express-M ore-Reliable.aspx

What solved it for me was step 10:turning off IPv6 (the others made no difference)

The unit now works great - let me know if this works for you

I was having Airplay dropping in and out (lasting a couple of seconds) with great frequency. I too found that my problem was that I was using third party application to monitor wireless signal strength (iStumbler). When iStumber was open/running, Airplay would drop signal. When I closed iStumbler, no problems. I am also testing the theory that having Airport Utility open/running constantly will help keep Airplay from dropping signal. Thus far, I have not found had any Airplay dropping music without Airport Utility closed. I hope this information helps others.

my wireless hardware:

Airport Extreme (current generation)

Airport Extreme (previous generation)

Airport Express (2008 generation)

Time Capsule (previous generation)

Your observation made me curious about my own set up. I've been having airplay audio dropouts when going wifi from iOS device to a wireless airplay speaker but never when going from my wired Mac to the same speaker(s). And even then, audio problems were most noticeable when the source was a streaming app like CBC music, songza or other.

Wondering if it was an issue with wifi in/out restrictions, I switched from the 2.4ghz band on our router to 5ghz from the iPad mini. The improvement was instant. Before, it was dropping every few seconds. Now, I've had a clean stream for over 2hours. I know that not everyone has a 5ghz band on their router and that not every iOS device can connect to 5ghz signals but this has, for now, solved my problem.

When I stream from my Windows or Mac computer to either of my two vintage airplay express units or to my new Apple TV unit I have no problems. The problem only occurs when I stream from my iPad 2 to either of these units. It doesn't happen all the time. In fact, if everything works ok at startup it usually continues without a problem. Frequently though when I use my iPad2 to stream something like NPR to one of the wireless units the green light will go from a green to a blinking amber, and the audio stream will actually pause. If I wait a while the green light will come back on and then most times the connection will be maid and the audio will stream. I believe the problem lies in the wifi connection between the iPad 2 and the Airplay unit.

I have a dual band routher (Linksys E4200) but switching to 5.0GHZ doesn't help. In fact the connection is better with the 2.4 GHZ SSID.

I just ordered a PLWK400 Powerline AV Wireless Network Extender Kit and will report back if this helps.