AirPlay drop outs

A few second delay before a song starts to stream or between songs would be "normal," but delays while they are playing would not be.

A few questions about your setup if you don't mind:

• Is the AirPort Express base station, when connected by Ethernet to the Belkin router, in the same room?
• When streaming from the iPhone or iPad Air is the audio source on the iOS device or being streamed from the Internet?
  • Have you tried both sources?
  • If so, do you notice any difference in streaming performance between them?
• Have you tried configuring the Express to join the wireless network created by the Belkin as a wireless client?

Let's take a quick look at how AirPlay will "travel" from your iOS device to the AirPort Express (AX) base station. It will depend on how you have the base station configured in your network.

From your first post you mentioned two different configurations with the base station:

1. AX connected to Belkin wireless router by Ethernet. The AX's wireless radios are disabled.

   In this scenario, AirPlay will travel from the iOS device to the Belkin, and then, from the Belkin to the AX.

2. AX connected to the Belkin by Ethernet. The AX's wireless radios are enabled.

   In this scenario, I am assuming that you have the AX configured in a roaming type network with the Belkin. If that is correct, and assuming that the iOS device is connected to the AX and NOT the Belkin's wireless network, AirPlay would travel from the iOS device directly to the AX. However, if it is connected to the Belkin's wireless network, AirPlay would travel there first, and then, to the AX as in the first scenario.

Anytime AirPlay must travel through objects, like walls, it will be impeded if over wireless. This could be one of the reasons that you are experiencing the delays. Another would be the version of iOS, or that the AX is faulty. The last item would be ruled out if you can stream from either another iOS device (using a different version of iOS) or from a Mac/PC without any issues.

RSSi on b/g/n -48. On a/n -60.

RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indicator. It is the strength of the beacon's signal as seen on the receiving device. The signal strength depends on distance and broadcasting overall value. At a maximum Broadcasting Power +4 dBm (2.5 mW) the RSSI ranges from -26 (a few inches) to -100 (40-50 m distance). The less negative the value, the better.

Your results shows a "better" signal on the 2.4 GHz band over the 5 GHz band. This would depend on where the MBP was located, with respect to the base station, when the measurement was taken.

1. Rate looks flat at 300

The would be the instantaneous maximum data rate of the Wi-Fi connection in Mbps. This value may not be the maximum capable for either the Belkin or the MacBook. It will depend on the capabilities of both devices.

2. Quality varies between 32-35

This is the same as the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) that is measured in dB, and appears to be reasonable.

For reference, here is a SNR Guideline:

• 40+dB = Excellent signal
• 25dB to 40dB = Very good signal
• 30dB = Minimum range boundary (voice)
• 15dB to 25dB = Low signal
• 20dB = Minimum range boundary (data)
• 10dB to 15dB = Very low signal
• 5dB to 10dB = Little or no signal

I would troubleshoot by connecting a computer by wired ethernet to the router and connect the appletv to the same router

and see if airplay from iTunes on the computer suffered the same issue

if not then wifi interference rather then router issues would be the likely cause

I may have missed it, but I don't see anywhere in the OP's post that they are using an Apple TV, or a computer with this issue. Would be a rather "expensive" troubleshooting method if they don't actually have either one, you'd think?

In your reply to Rudegar, you mentioned that you are seeing an RSSI value of 50. This may or may not be a good number by itself.

What you want to check is the overall signal quality. One measure of that is the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). However, you would need a Mac notebook to take this measurement as your iOS devices can only get the signal strength value. Do you have one handy or can borrow one?

So, with all that said, let's get back to the AirPlay dropout issue your network is experiencing. Again, where the dropouts occur can indicate what the issue may or may not be ... so again I ask is the dropout happening at the beginning of each song or randomly anytime a song is playing? Also, if at the beginning of the song, per chance is it a classical piece or anything else that has a long lead-in?

Again, before blaming the AX, were you able to stream to it from your wife's MacBook successfully without the drop-outs? If not, then it most likely will be the AX at fault.

Also (didn't have my morning cup of coffee yet 😉) "WMM" = ?

Doh! The coffee finally kicked in ... Yes, thanks for re-educating me on WMM. Interesting that Apple states that it shouldn't be disabled. It certainly isn't controllable via the AirPort Utility.

I just exported out the base station's configuration file from my 802.11ac AirPort Extreme base station and have loaded it into PlistEdit Pro to review all of the "settable" parameters. WMM does not appear to be one of them and that makes me think that you could not disable it from the utility even if you wanted to. I also understand that disabling WMM will prevent iOS devices from connecting to the base station in 802.11n mode ... so, as Apple states, it could cause more problems than fixes.