AirPlay unusable due to audio dropouts

I have the same issues using my macbook to ATV. When the issue is raised in the support community the suggestion is always a "network issue" but I don't think that's the case. I can navigate to my music on the ATV and play songs without issue (even stream movies without a hiccup) however, if I try to ariplay the same iTunes library from my macbook I cannot get through a single song without it dropping. You would think that if one is able to stream a movie without issues then audio would present no problems at all. I'm not sure why there would be a difference between the two maybe the caching is handled differently? I would just like to get an answer without my network being blamed.

AirPlay makes me want to tear my hair out as well. I've been experiencing drop out issues streaming audio from my iPhone 4 (latest OS) since I bought it almost a year ago. The issue occurs with both Stitcher and the native Music app, streaming both to an AirPort Express Base Station and an Apple TV 2. I'd entertained the idea it might be network related, however, it occurred to me that when AirPlay was AirTunes and I was streaming with my very same router and very same AirPort Express, from my same MacBook but with an iPod touch I did not have these issues, at all. I did restore my base station to the latest update (I believe it was supposed to fix this issue, but didn't) and no change. If I take my iPhone to another wireless network and try to stream to an ATV 2 connected to it I run into the same issue. I've just given up at this point, because it's more frustrating to try and make it work than it is to just not use it. However, I do miss listening to my podcasts over actual speakers rather than the speaker on the iPhone itself. I'll probably end up purchasing a bluetooth speaker instead of a newer base station because of this.

I'm having exactly the same problem. I can play music directly from Apple TV but when I try to stream music from my laptop to Apple TV, or to speakers attached to my Airport Express, it drops out after a few seconds. I have an Airport Extreme and have experimented with changing every setting I can think of, all to no avail.

If someone knows a way to fix this, I would be very grateful indeed!

I have a very similar situation. I get dropouts when I am streaming music to my stereo from my computer (running Win7) with latest itunes and latest version of Airport Utility for Windows.

I have set up my system so I am running in Bridge Mode (Joining a wireless network). Everything connects, my green light stays "on" on the Airport Express, and it cuts out somewhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes in the midst of a song and then often quits. I am running MP3s that I have burned from CD. I tried AAC, that doesn't work either.

My situation is kind of unique (maybe not?) in that I am joining a wireless network that is upstairs from me (but the wireless signal is STRONG) and I am aware that there may be some interference some where. The building itself is wood construction and like I say, the signal I get is very strong. I am able to stream wireless stations to my laptop no troubles. Just connecting to the Airport Express --and staying connected without dropping out-- is a problem. I have moved everything out of the way that could be affecting signal, no dice.

Complicated matter. I'm trying to think of a solution before running wires everywhere... God I hate wires. That's why I bought this to begin with.

First, I will talk about what I have:

1. U-verse using 2WIRE router

2. AirPort Extreme Base Station set to Bridge Mode

3. 3 AirPort Express Base stations connected in kitchen, living room and garage (to powered outdoor speakers)

4. Amped Wireless SR300 High Power Wireless-300N Smart Repeater (to get the wireless signal to the garage).

Prior to purchasing the AirPort Extreme, I was having a lot of difficulty with AirPlay providing continuous stream of music for periods longer than 15 minutes. I drank the kool-aid and believed that Apple stuff plays better with Apple stuff, so I bought the Extreme Base Station and set it to bridge mode as suggested in previous posts. This seemed to work fine, although cutting out still occurred. However, i couldn't quite the outside AirPort Express station to get a strong enough signal, so I added the repeater. It seemed to work fine a few times, but this past weekend I tried to fire up some music for a Spring BBQ and the music constatnly cut in and out, providing more frustration than relaxation.

I am rather certain that I have tried just baout every fix suggested in these and other posts. All devices have been updated and checked using Airport Utility. The signal strength is great, but the connection stinks.

The music is all stored on external HDs connected to a PC. All screen savers and energy saving features have been disabled on the PC, as I have noted many problems with connectivity when the computer's screen saver or sleep features are enabled.

I also noted that this weekend my phone (iPhone 4) could not connect via the Remote App to my library. It would try to connect to the libirary but would constantly fail such that I couldn't use the remote feature. Since I was more interested at the time at simply having music on -- and not necessarily the ability to adjust music and volume through use of phone or other device -- i said "screw it" and put the phone down and shut down the Remote App on the phone. I figured if my phone was part of the problem, the fact that the remote was no longer bothering the delicate balance of AirPlay would mean that the music would simply stream. Although annoyed that I would have to run upstairs to the PC in order to change music and adjust volume, I figured some music is better than no music at all, particularly with guests arriving.

Well, I tried multiple items to get music to play without interruption and I failed miserably. It would play for about 3 or 4 minutes, then would start skipping or cutting in and out, and then it would play no more. Extremely frustrating.

Note to Apple: I understand you are in a superior market position where you can put out various pieces of merchandise with a picture of a fruit on it and people will gobble it up, but please don't ignore feedback from customers. These posts on AirPlay go back several years with the same problems being reported. Where there's smoke there's probably a fire. I think it might be a good point in time to assemble a little team and start troubleshooting this issue, as the current state of inoperability is only leading to negative reviews on third party markets (Amazon, Newegg, etc.) and posoined word of mouth about how miserable these products perform. Having spent several hundred dollars -- most of which were Apple products -- and countless hours toying with settings and testing them, I am very close to scrapping the whole system and researching cat-5 or other wireless options which do not include Apple products.

If any Apple whiz-bang techie is out there with knowledge of a possible fix or has suggestions as to what I might try next in my journey to stream music wirelessly, please HELP!

Same here:

I have been using Airplay already when it was not even called like that yet. All in total 6 years without ANY ⚠ problems.

The trouble started when I upgraded to Mountain Lion and a MacBook Pro Retina display.

I couldn't believe that the new OS and the not cheap new computer were not capabale of doing what way simpler devices did for 6 years without problems before, so I assumed a not related coincidental hardware issue:

I replaced my Cisco Router with an AirPort Extreme and replaced my ATV 2 with a brandnew one:

No Change. Airplay is simply not working anymore.

E.g. everytime my computer downloads a simple webpage, Airplay drops out. How can a network that is capable of 256 Mbit/s be overloaded when downloading something from the internet (my modem deliveres a maximum of 40 Mbit/s). Assumed that at the worst case my computer is downloading all the time with 40 Mbit/s from the internet, that leaves me with about 200 Mbit/ s on my network, which is 1,000 x more bandwidth than needed to stream a 192 kbit/s song over Airplay!

In other words: A Network that should be able to stream over 1,000 songs at the same time that can't do even 1 single one without problems must be seriously broken!

Hi Mark,

I just bought Pioneer X-SMC3. I am quite happy with sounds.

Play music well well not quite well.

Sometimes experiencing drop out for few 1-2 second intermittently.

I tried directly from my iPhone where songs stores inside the iPhone. And via iTunes(MacBook Pro) where songs stores in TimeCapsule.

Any clue?

Thanks in advance.

Re Real solution to dropouts when using AirPlay with AirPort Express.

Well-documented on web forums is the sad fact that the AirPort Express when used with AirPlay is unstable if outputting through digital out (tosLink) going to a high-end DAC (and then on to your amplifier). Dropouts are so prevalent as to render the music unlistenable. This has been the situation with all Expresses and all firmware releases for the past two years. (Please note that your setup has to be exactly as I described for the dropouts to occur, namely digital out + high-end DAC -- mine is exaSound e20, $2,500.) I have tried various purported "solutions" to the dropout problem (changing my AirPort Extreme's network security settings, WiFi frequency, firmware, etc.). None worked.

I made one key discovery in the course of my web research. That was when I read that one observer had proved that the network wasn't involved in producing his dropouts at all: the dropouts were still present when this observer didn't use WiFi or AirPlay but connected his Express by Ethernet to his iMac running iTunes. He still had dropouts in his sound system. Ergo, the Express alone is the culprit. The observer attributed the dropouts to jitter in the digital signal from the Express which all high-end DACs are unable to lock on to consistently. Whatever the actual cause of the dropouts, the solution is ridiculously simple. Buy an Apple-TV and use it as an exact replacement for the Express.

Nothing else needs to be changed or adjusted. In fact don't even attempt to "set up" the Apple-TV for using just audio out for AirPlay. The Apple-TV is set up by default for this use out of the box. Surprisingly, at the Palo Alto Apple store where I bought the Apple-TV, the sales clerk and the networking expert were both not sure my use of the Apple-TV device for just audio out -- without any TV involved -- would work. Also they were certain I would have to hook the device up to my TV (I don't have one) in order to go through the lengthy setup that would surely be necessary (using tech note HT5900). Obligingly, I definitely intended to use the complex procedures of HT5900 for setting the device up. "But first," I said to myself, "let me just plug in the Apple-TV and see what happens." This simple substitution worked like a charm. I merely took out the tosLink cable from the Express, plugged it instead into the Apple-TV, plugged in the power cord, and let the little device initialize. Then, as I always did with the Express when I used it with analog out, went to "Music" on my iPad, used command center to set the music output destination for AirPlay. "Apple-TV" was in the destination-list that popped up, which I selected. Clear, perfect audio then sounded from my new high-end sound system, and I haven't had a single dropout since I switched to using the Apple-TV. Why isn't this simple solution to the nasty dropout problem of the AirPort Express, complained about in thousands of forum contributions over the years, generally known?

Kins - that's a very interesting post - particularly about how the Express doesn't even work properly when hardwired to the Mac. I'm curious - how long have you been using the Apple TV in lieu of the Express? I have two Expresses, one of them only a few months old. Before I go off and spend another $200 to replace them, I'd like to know that the Apple TV has been well vetted. Alternately, I'm going to shell out the big bucks and go for a Sonos System. I'm really fed up with all the drop out. Thank you.

In answer to a question from The Real J-Lo: "how long have you been using the Apple TV in lieu of the Express?".

Not very long, four days to be exact (bought January 23, 2014)! But I don't see how its suitability, as the receiver of AirPlay data from my iPad 4 and transmission of the data over tosLink to my DAC, could somehow become degraded. I've been playing iTunes music through it almost continually since I bought it, and not a single dropout yet.

As far as the other equipment goes, my WiFi base station is an AirPort Extreme (ca 3 years old, model 802.11n [5th generation], now running firmware 7.6.1) connected by Ethernet to a DSL modem. I send the music, using AirPlay, from my iPad 4 to the Apple-TV (by way of the Extreme). The DAC is an exaSound e20. This setup, as I've already mentioned, is exactly the same as I had when I was using the AirPort Express instead of the Apple-TV and getting a dropout every 2 seconds with an occasional 20 sec. respite. For the curious, the tosLink from the Apple-TV connects directly to a Marantz SA8004 CD player acting as a kind of preamp, thence (just pass-through) on to the DAC (using a 2nd tosLink cable); from there the analog signal goes through balanced lines to the amp, a 300 W per channel Bryston, which powers a pair of Janszen zA2.1 electrostatic speakers. Sound quality is outstanding.

Thank you Kins. Your post has given some good ideas about what to look for. I had always thought the problem was network lag on my WLAN but now I realize I need to look at more than that. First, I've found that there is an OS upgrade for the Mac OS - so that's the first thing for me to do. If that doesn't fix the problem, I am going to investigate my two AirPort Expresses closer. One is a 1st generation and one is a 2nd generation. It seems that the drop out is more common on the 1st generation but I haven't been methodical about it and need to do that. Thanks again.

I think you should give up trying to use ANY model of the Airport Express, or any special firmware for it, or any particular iOS version (or any frequency choice, or any particular security scheme, etc.) -- if you're going to be using its optical out going to a high-end DAC. I'm sorry to say this, but I believe the Express is apparently a poor design, and there is no workaround for its problems. The better design used in the Apple-TV does not have the Express's dropout problem and is the only solid solution if you want to use AirPlay and optical out to your expensive standalone DAC.

I'm not disputing any of the above, but let me describe my setups. I extensively use three different white Airport Express "n" models for audio streaming in my house and I've never had any dropouts.

First, my DACs are not high-end. I use an original Cambridge Audio DACMagic, a newer DACMagic Plus, and a nice DAC from China that I bought on eBay that sounds amazingly good given what I paid. It has some decent hardware. The DACMagic Plus feeds some higher-end, bi-amped, studio monitors and the other two DACs feed two different tube headphone amplifiers in two different rooms of my house.

All my audio is on a master hard drive, ripped from CDs I still own. The audio format is Apple Lossless. The media server that the hard drive is connected to is a 2009 MacBook that's connected by gigabit ethernet to an Apple 5th gen Airport Extreme that provides our home wireless network. The audio files are in iTunes and sharing is obviously enabled. I use the Remote app on my iPhone to control the audio.

I'm using various parts of this audio network all of the time and I've never had any problem with dropouts. To my ears, which are still pretty good, the sound is at least as good as before I went wireless, when I used a CD transport to send the optical signal to a DAC.

We also own three 3rd gen Apple TVs and I've done comparisions with the white Airport Express units and I can't tell any difference. Also, I've never been really comfortable with streaming 44.1K audio through Apple TVs because the audio is automatically upsampled to 48K.

One more thing--my wireless network is "n" only and has been that way for a long time.