Airplay: nothing but disappointment

Question

Airplay: nothing but disappointment

Hi all,

In February of this year I bought a Bowers&Wilkins A5 speaker from an Apple reseller. I use it in my office to stream music from my iPhone and/or iPad.

It has been a very, very disappointing experience. I've actually reached a point where I'm considering leaving Airplay behind and buy a cheap bluetooth based speaker instead.

My wifi system consists of an Apple Airport Extreme (not the newest model) which is hooked up to my modem and covers downstairs. Linked to the Extreme is an Express, via cable. The Express is set up so that it is an extension from my network to give the upstairs a better signal. I have zero problems with this wifi setup.

The B&W speaker sits about 10 feet from the Express station upstairs, so distance can't be a problem. Yet I experience drops in music multiple times on daily basis. Music simply stops playing. The device that was streaming often can't find the B&W speaker after that, while the other device can find it.

It is frustrating beyond belief. This isn't cheap stuff and I really expect more of it.

How is everybody else's experience with Airplay? I hear similar stories from the people I follow on Twitter.

Tips/suggestions more than welcome!

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 2:27 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Oct 21, 2014 10:13 AM in response to spencerpieters

Linked to the Extreme is an Express, via cable. The Express is set up so that it is an extension from my network to give the upstairs a better signal.

With the Express connected back to the the Extreme via Ethernet, do you have both devices configured for a "roaming" network? That is, is the Express configured to "Create a wireless network," and not "Extend a wireless network?"

The B&W speaker sits about 10 feet from the Express station upstairs, so distance can't be a problem. Yet I experience drops in music multiple times on daily basis. Music simply stops playing. The device that was streaming often can't find the B&W speaker after that, while the other device can find it.

When you get these dropouts, where is the iTunes host located relative to your network? Near the Extreme, near the Express, somewhere in between?

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Answer 2

Oct 21, 2014 11:50 PM in response to Tesserax

Hi Tesserax,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

The Express and Extreme are in a roaming network configuration. It is basicly one network with one password. Apple has a page on how to set that up and it's been fine for well over a year now.

The Extreme is downstairs, the Express is upstairs, the B&W speaker is upstairs, about 10 feet away from the Express. Both the Express and B&W are in my office space basicly.

I talked to a guy yesterday who recommended that I install a wifi tool to look at the channels that are being used around me. My neighbours on both ends have wifi networks and he thinks there might be issues if they use the same channels.

I haven't tried yet. Do you think this will make a difference?

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Oct 22, 2014 11:04 AM in response to spencerpieters

I talked to a guy yesterday who recommended that I install a wifi tool to look at the channels that are being used around me. My neighbours on both ends have wifi networks and he thinks there might be issues if they use the same channels.

I haven't tried yet. Do you think this will make a difference?

Potentially ... and this could resolve the issue you are having.

It it important to understand the "path" AirPlay takes when streaming. Basically, it would be from the iTunes host to the AirPlay speaker. That speaker, in your case, would be the B&W device. However, you also need to take into account the overall network path between those two devices and any potential latencies that would be present.

In your roaming network, you are actually operating four separate Wi-Fi networks, each having the same network name. In addition, the AirPort Express Ethernet ports only support 100 Mbps of network bandwidth, so there is a definite "slow down" between the Extreme (which supports 1 Gbps) and the Express.

So, for a worst-case streaming example, you would have the iTunes host downstairs. The stream would first travel from the host to the Extreme. Then it would travel from the Extreme to the Express via Ethernet, and then, from the Express to the B&W.

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Answer 4

Oct 22, 2014 12:53 PM in response to Tesserax

So the Express might be underpowered to handle the stream. I suppose I could test that theory by moving the B&W downstairs, which is covered by the Extreme.

Worth to try. Thanks again.

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