Airplay keeps reverting to internal speakers

You are very Lucky Martin !! I have a similar problem to yours - the only difference being both my iPad and iPhone revert to the internal speakers after only a few SECONDS !!! The symptoms are.... I can play music, via Airplay, all day long without issue UNTIL I pause a track. When I resume the track, even if only a few seconds later, the music plays through the internal speakers - VERY frustrating. I have the latest updated iOS systems on both my devices (Only because I'm constantly pestered to do this by Apple). The issue has always been there but never as bad as it is now - it seems to be designed in - can't for the life of me understand why???

Not sure why your iOS devices cannot maintain an AirPlay stream for more than a few seconds ... except for the possibility that you have some form of Wi-Fi interference in the area that is causing poor wireless network connectivity.

To understand possibly why, you need to understand a few things about AirPlay. For streaming AirPlay basically uses two channels, one for control and the other for the actual stream, the data channel. The control channel is initiated first, and when successful, the data channel is (only then) created.

The point is that the control channel must be established ... and must be checked periodically. This all, theoretically, happens in the background. If the control channel is broken, AirPlay will cease streaming. This channel can be broken for a number of reasons. One of them is if the iOS device goes "to sleep." ... might be what is happening here.

You misunderstand Tessereax - my Airplay stream can be maintained without the slightest stutter all day long if need be. The problem comes when I pause a track and then resume it a short time after - "Sleep" is not an issue because we're only talking seconds here. I used to be able to pause for a few minutes - for a phone call say, but since my last iOS update (maybe?) the stream is lost almost immediately. So why else would the stream be broken?

Thanks for the clarification. The AirPlay process I described still stands, but it may not be the only reason for what is happening in your case. I assume that you have one of the newer 802.11n Express base stations ... or is it an 802.11g model like that the OP uses? If it is an older model, these are considered "obsolete" by Apple Support. If it is one of the "n" models, did you just update the base station's firmware? (Apple just released new versions yesterday.)

Thanks again for your reply 😉

I'm not using any type of Apple base station - just a BT Home Hub wireless router which gives a strong signal with no "dropout" related issues

Well, ok then. AirPlay still works that way I described earlier. Except in your case, it is streaming first, to your BT Home Hub, and then, to the AirPlay-ready speakers. The only thing "Apple" in this equation is your iOS devices. As you mentioned, you recently updated them with the latest iOS version. I have not heard anything (yet) about AirPlay issues with this new release ... but, of course, anything is possible. Sorry, that I couldn't help you.

Thankyou for trying to help - you're the only on e so far that has. This issue is very annoying. I've asked a friend to try and replicate the issue on his devices and will report back when I have some more info.