toslink airplay skipping

Thanks for the updates.

Extreme: in a back room (ethernet to apple tv)

Kitchen: 25 feet away almost line of sight through a doorway.

Library: 35 feet from kitchen almost line of sight - no doorways

Master Bedroom: the floor above the Extreme - 25 feet away through floor.

It's important to note how the base stations extend a wireless network. The best analogy is think of a wagon wheel with the base station that you want to extend at the wheel. Each of the extending base stations would be along one of the spokes of that hub. Unlike the older 802.11g AirPorts, which supported WDS, you cannot "daisy chain" base station to extend further in a particular direction.

... so that would be placement of an extending base station is critical to get the best possible overall bandwidth. That's because, the extending base station can only extend the bandwidth at the level it receives it ... even though clients near it will perceive a higher signal value.

I wrote an AirPort User tip on this that you should find helpful. Bottom line? You would want each of your extending base stations to be within a 25+ dB SNR range of the Extreme for audio and 35+ dB range for HD video streaming.

Another way to think about Apple's "extend a wireless network" feature is that each "extending" AirPort must connect directly to the "main" AirPort base station. That's because Apple's extend feature will only allow you to extend the network one time, not two.

You can have multiple devices extending the network, but each one must connect to the "main" AirPort base station.

In your diagram, the Kitchen AirPort and Master Bedroom AirPort are connecting to the main AirPort....but....the Library AirPort is not. So, in effect the Library AirPort has "joined" the wireless network.....it is not extending it, so it is not providing any additional wireless signal strength if that was your goal for the device.....although it can be used for AirPlay or to connect a remote USB printer.

Apple explains it this way:

Important note

If another extended Wi-Fi base station ➋ is placed between the primary Wi-Fi base station ➊ and the extended Wi-Fi base station ➌, the extended Wi-Fi base station ➌ will not allow clients to join it. All extended Wi-Fi base stations must be in direct range of the primary Wi-Fi base station

Unfortunately, when you do extend a network wirelessly, you will lose about half of the potential bandwidth of the network on each connection. And, you have multiple connections, so your network bandwidth is operating at a fraction of its capability.

Wireless connections might work for you, but wired Ethernet cable connections from the main AirPort to each extending AirPort would be the way to go if your goal is maximum network performance. And, the Library AirPort will be broadcasting a wireless signal in this type of setup, if you need additional wireless coverage in the area where the AirPort is located.

If it is true that this affects both internal and external DAC, then why does my analog out to RCA not skip, whereas the digital out does?

I should have worded that a bit better. The base station's internal DAC was designed for it specifically. External DAC, as you can imagine, have different tolerances when it comes to an perturbations of the incoming digital signal.

It is a known commodity that these base stations "suffer" from a 2-sec delay in streaming. Again, mainly when the input is interrupted.

However, drop-outs could also be caused by not having sufficient bandwidth for the stream between the host and the AirPlay "speaker."

i wonder if the delays from aex > extreme > aex may be an issue? should I rewire the house for ethernet?

For audio, it is usually not necessary to have an Ethernet backbone between the two devices. This is typically more of an issue when streaming HD video.

We will need to know a bit more about your "aex > extreme > aex" setup.

For instance:

• What are the exact models of each of your AirPort base stations?
• Are they currently all interconnected by wireless?
• If by wireless, how are each base station configured:
  • Create a wireless network.
  • Extend a wireless network.
  • Join a wireless network.
• Where are each base station physically located in relation to each other?
• What is your streaming server? iTunes? Something else?
• What is your streaming source?
  • On the same device as the server?
  • On a network drive?
  • From the Internet?

creek: It sounds like there’s an issue in using that type of cable. This is not a true way of using an optical signal. I would suggest using the jack to phono rca lead as this will use the DAC in your Creek unit rather than the built-in DAC of the Apple product.

They might have meant well, but you received incorrect advice about the AirPort Express from the creek folks.

When you use the analog output of the AirPort Express, you are using the DAC built into the AirPort Express.

When you use the Toslink output/cable, you are bypassing the DAC on the AirPort Express.

Hopefully, one of the audiophile guys like Tesserax will see your post and provide additional information on your issue.

One of the prime drawbacks of the AirPort Express is that it audio circuit does not include a local clock circuit. As such, when an incoming stream (to the Express) is interrupted, like when changing songs or a long pause between a classical piece, there is no longer a digital output to feed either the internal or an external DAC.

Bottom line? Some external DACs can handle this better than others.

Ref: Apple AirPort Express Audio Performance - Ken Rockwell

I have the same exact issue with an AirPort express using toslink into a McIntosh DAC (in a C2600 premap). Did you ever find a solution?

Again, I also do not hear the "skipping" when using the analog-out. I have the AirPort Express connected by ethernet to the home network (Verizon Fios), and I am using AirPlay from an iPhone 7 in the same room (using the same AirPort Express as the wifi connection to the phone).

I had the same problem with my Jolida FX Tube DAC. After much frustration and searching the web for answers all I could glean was that "some DACs don't work well with the AirPort express". A perspective that appears to be repeated above.

I surrendered and removed my external DAC from my chain several years ago. I now just live with the mini jack to RCA connection using the internal AE DAC and try not to think about it. But here I am again searching for an answer... 😟

Just adding to the chain, but no solution. Same issue with skipping running optical toslink mini out of AE into integrated amp (Peachtree Nova 150). Skipping is wildly intermittent, however. Sometimes drops out every few seconds, sometimes goes on a run for a couple minutes without dropping out. Analog out works fine without skipping, but I'd love to use analog amp input with a different source. Frustrating...