Airtunes audio dropouts!

Hi all.
I've read alot of posts regarding audio dropouts with iTunes. Below is my setup so i can explain my problem:
I've created a WDS network, with my main hub being a time capsule, and then 3 Express hubs (2 old, 1 new).
I hear alot of people saying its due to iTunes 8, that this problem has really gotten serious. Sometimes i can play music for awhile maybe an hour or so before a dropout or loss of audio. As usual the computer keeps playing but nothing is coming out of the other express hubs.
I've tried numours things, i've changed channel frequency on all hubs, its generally made it worse, so i've kept it at 11, there is only 1 other person with a week signal on the same channel 11.
I've changed the settings of my hubs from being remotes to relays, has not really helped.
All the software is up to date. I've tried changing security from WPA to WEP. I haven't tried turning of security as i would prefer not to (perhaps i should test this).
I've cleaned cache and repaired permissions, turned off iTunes DJ which some people suggest but has come to no success.
Does anybody still have this problem or has come up with a working solution for this drop in audio with mac airtunes multi-speaker setup?
I'd like to find out how many people have this problem, as we shouldn't have to pay for a product that is faulty or is falsely advertised like it is.
Any help or further advise on how to fix this problem would be fantastic. When airtunes does work, it is fantastic.

Ok, just for the purpose of testing, i've changed my whole network from a WDS to just a regular standard one.
With my Time-Machine still as my main hub, with 2 express units set to, "join existing network", and the other set to, "Extend network", with the allow wireless clients turned off (this is for my xbox 360).
Hmmm, i'm not sure if it has helped in anyway...
I've had one very brief drop-out, but it seems to be handling better...
Futher testing will proof this, as my WDS network started out fine too.

Similar Messages

Vista - airtunes audio dropout

Hello,
I'm having problems with Vista streaming to more than one airport.
When I stream from my Vista machine to more than one airport every minute there is an audio dropout of 2-3 seconds. When the songs starts the first audio dropout is after +/- 20-30 seconds, from there every next minute another audio dropout.
When I stream from any other machine in my house (all XP) I do not have this problem.
I tried everything. Change the channel, increase buffer, use 'bridge' mode, turn off firewall, change location of airport, but nothing helped.
All the software is up to date.
The strange thing is that it only happens when I stream to more than one ITunes speaker. So when I use the computer speaker with one airport I have the same problem. Or when I stream to two or three airports also audio dropouts.
When I stream to only one airport or the computer alone there is no audio dropout.
I really hope someone can help me!
Thanks in advance.
Jeroen.

Hello Caminada. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
I don't have an answer for you, but maybe a suggestion. As you are already aware iTunes uses AirTunes to stream audio to an AirPort Express Base Station (AX). What happens "behind the scenes" is that iTunes first opens a port to establish a secure connection to the AX, and after successfully doing so, it then opens a second port to stream the actual audio content. The ports typically used in this exchange are TCP ports 5000 & 6000.
Vista, having a more robust level of security enhancements, may be the reason. I suggest that you (temporarily) disable the Vista OS firewall to make sure that the effort of opening these ports are not hindered in any way. Another option is to try running iTunes with Administrator privileges (right-click and select Start/Run as Administrator).

Airport Express - Airtunes Audio Dropouts in client mode

The last week I spend trying many tips from this and other forums to get my Itunes running without dropouts, without any results. Heres a list what I did:
Firmware downgrade to 6.1.1.
Disabled IPv6
Increased Buffer Size in Itunes to BIG
Let OnyX runover
Disabled Dashboard
I works fine in Network Mode, but I cannot connect to Internet, and I would like to listen and surf...
My config: Netgear Wireless router, Airport Express and MacBook 2Ghz Intel Core Duo.
Sometimes it seems that playing directly from CD causes less dropouts - allthough the amount of data is much higher.
I also noticed that my windows XP laptop produces much less dropouts than MacBook, it reconizes even the remote speakers in Itunes, allthough there is no Airtunes software installed. I tried to install Airtunes there, but it didnt recognize AE, allthough it found the new network, well..
The system itself is rather new and with 1,5 GB of Ram it should be running like a rocket...
I think the problem is either that there is not enough bandwith, maybe Airport reserves an amount for netsurfing, or there is a hardware problem with the build in Aiport, that cannot stream continously audio in client mode.
No neighbor networks here, no microwave however there is a satelite dish cable, but this must disturb Aiport even when running in Single Mode, do I think wrong ?
Some users report that the dropouts occured when updating Itunes...what should I do ?
Send back to apple or wait for an update ?
Will apple take care for the few MacBook Core Duo Users or invest more in the newer series ( Core 2 Duo ) ?
Any help much appreciated. Greetings, Walter
Mac Book Intel Core Duo 2Ghz 1,5 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

After further testing it figures out that the problem seems to be at the Hardware of the Airport Express.
When running in client mode, the green light is flashing always, so data seems to be sent correctly from MacBook - also from a PC Laptop. So MacBook´s Airport is OK. The dropouts appear, allthough the light is continously flashing.
When running the seperate Network MAC and PC stream perfectly.
Now I´m sitting here, listen to music from PC and surfing with my MacBook...
I also tried to connect the second Network via WDS and configure the Internet Connection to my existing Network via WDS and use the AE as a remote Base Station - doesnt work, because it doesnt like the dynamic IP Adress of my Netgear Router, I think AE needs a fixed one, I wonder why AE could not handle a dynamic IP...
The other question is, if configuring Internet with WDS would solve the problem ? - I think that is the same problem just from another side, Airtunes and Internet on one AE, and the AE could not handle that...what do you think ?
If the Internetconnection breaks for 1 second it doesnt matter, but you hear that when airtuning music...
Thanks for any statements.
Mac Book Intel Core Duo 2Ghz 1,5 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

AirTunes audio dropout in iTunes 8 during downloads

Hello after I started using iTunes 8, any time I'm downloading something within iTunes, such as a podcast, the AirTunes cuts off, although iTunes still indicates audio is playing. I do have the Genius feature turned on, if this helps. Any answers would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi,
I have this dropouts while streaming over the network since many months. I read many discussions but no luck!
At the moment this is my system:
10.5.6 and iTunes 8.02.
The last time I tried to resolve the dropout problem was with the same system.
Today after the new quicktime update which I got through system-update I wanted to try again fix this dropouts. But be aware, I don't know if the updated qucktime is relevant.
And I apologize if the following solution of mine is already suggested by another person, I was too lazy to read all posts again!
I opened my airport utility and eventually found in the help something about the multicast rate.
I cannot repeat the whole help text, because it is in German, but I think you can find the section if you search for "multicast" or"multicast rate"!
So I decreased my multicast rates under the tab "Wireless-Options" and the drpouts are gone away. After hat I am hearing music without dropouts for more than 1 hour! Before: dropouts every approx. 2 minutes.
Here are my explanation how:
Nearest Airprt station to my Mac 2nd nearest Farest station
AE AE AX
2 MBit/s 5 MBit/s 11 MBit/s
I hope, you understand my tble above. If not, feel free to post.
Good luck to all of you who have this uglly problem!

I have bought a new airport express and using it with my macbook (iTunes 10.2.2). I have joined an existing network for internet in my home and with that i am trying to play the music via itunes but there is audio dropouts every 60 secs or so. any soln ?

I have bought a new airport express and using it with my macbook (iTunes 10.2.2). I have joined an existing wireless network for internet in my home and with that i am trying to play the music via itunes but there is audio dropouts every 60 secs or so. I am using a set of speakers from kenwood connected to the airport express. The operating system on my macbook is mac os X 10.5.8. i am sure it is not a problem of streaming music online because i have even tried playing music which are stored in my macbook.
Is there any problem with the setting in itunes or quicktime ? Kindly reply...... I am waiting for your valuable suggestion.
Thank you a lot in advance.

I am shocked to have found this same AX audio dropout problem starting TODAY, every few seconds the audio just drops for a couple seconds and then resumes: Latest software versions of everything. No iPad, iPhone or Touch. Internet hardwired to D-Link DES1105 (1000baseT Switch) hardwired to new 80211N AX, AX optical to stereo, AX Wi-Fi internet to basic 1st-gen MacBook operating at 80211G, and an older 'G' AX extender at the far end of the house, away from all this. The MacBook streaming iTunes is usually 12 feet from AX. I've used this setup for years of trouble-free AirTunes / Airplay until today. Today I also found 2 very reliable fixes and 1 way to force a dropout, but first, I read some posts and tried ALL following settings one-at-a-time and restored them ALL because NONE of them helped: Turned off IPV6. Streamed to multiple speakers 'Computer' and 'AX' (restored to just AX). Turned off 'Ask to Join new (WiFi) Networks'. Turned off Bluetooth (can't live without Magic Trackpad, so glad that wasn't it). Here's my discoveries: Lo and behold, each time I click the Airport icon in the Menu (you know it shows you've got 4 bars from AX) when the status switches to 'Looking for Networks' for a second it CAUSES the AX audio to drop out for a couple seconds (it never did that before today.) iTunes still playing, streaming, AX laser still lit, but the 'PCM' light on stereo and the sound GOES OUT EVERY time I click the Airport icon in the menubar, just like the regular, annoying dropouts. So, to reduce traffic I quit Safari (3 tabs, no streaming, just Gmail, Google, and Netflix browsing). Lo and behold, the dropouts stopped altogether. No other Web apps going (not iTunes Store, Genius, Ping, nothing), so I launched Chrome to the same 3 tabs and the dropouts HAVE NOT RETURNED. That's right, not only did simply QUITTING SAFARI cure it, and Chrome doesn't contribute to it, but I can demonstrate it just by forcing my Airport to re-scan. Works for me, written using Chrome. The other reliable fix is to hardwire MacBook to the Switch. This is obviously not ideal, but Airplay audio doesn't drop out over Ethernet. Also, in all my tests, it made no difference whether iTunes did the streaming, or Airfoil did.

Audio dropouts since updating to iTunes 8

Had a stable working iTunes to Airport Express to stereo connection going for at least two years until I installed iTunes version 8 shortly after it came out. When I updated to version 8 I started receiving an error message and I had to upgrade the firmware on the AX to fix that. Ever since that time I haven't been able to use iTunes for more than 30 minutes or so without audio dropouts. Nothing else in the environment changed.
I have tried these fixes (some suggested in other posts) and they all failed:
1) Switched from optical to standard RCA cables between the AX and stereo.
2) Used Airport Admin Utility to enable Interference Robustness. This made the problem worse.
3) Switching to multiple speakers.
4) Leaving the Airport Utility program OPEN.
5) Removing interference from 2.4Ghz phones
My set up:
Windows XP Pro on 2 Gb RAM
iTunes 8.0.2.20
AX 6.3
I live in the country 200 yards away from the nearest neighbor.
I was hoping that Apple would come out with a fix. Am I waiting in vain?
Been forced to go back to my 400 disc changer, but it's not the same.
HELP APPLE

Did you try disabling WZC and using your wireless manufacturers drivers instead. This worked for me - see details in http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1715679&tstart=0

IPod Touch 2nd gen. audio dropouts

I just received my 2nd gen 8GB touch. Transferred one album to it for testing. The sound every now and then drops out for a split second. Never in the same spot in music though- so it's not a bad rip or faulty transfer. The dropouts also occur when listening to Pandora. I did a complete restore- and it didn't help. Turned off WiFi, no better.
Is this a known problem or is it unique to my iPod?
Any known solutions?
Thanks.

I have the same problem with audio dropouts with the Gen 2 32GB iPod Touch running Apple lossless, yet I never had this problem with Apple Gen 1 16GB iPod Touch running Apple lossless. This is a serious quality control issue and reflects lack of beta-testing. I have toyed with the idea of jumping into the Apple laptop world (from the PC world), but not now. I think this company has become marketing hype and does not care about quality control or perfection of a product. Lastly, I realy believe the audio quality is not on par with the Gen 1 iPod Touch (Klipsh IMAGE Headphones)-another suggestion of quality reduction to pay for marketing.

Audio Dropout Adobe premiere pro cc(2014) "adobe player"

I'm having the following problems with my adobe premiere pr cc 2014. I'm in the middle of a big documentary for Dutch Television. Because of the really buggy adobe premiere I can't work. The director gets frustrated and we can't work fast. I need to restart frequently but still the problem persist. Whenever I hit the space button to play I get audio dropouts and the software freezes and doesn't work well.
-Audio dropouts, they happen randomly and quite often. It happens on a relatively powerful macbook pro r (2.7 ghz i7, 16gb ram, ssd hard drive, usb 3.0 external hd.
- Bins take ages to load with thumbnails. Instead we see the grey square. It keeps on happening throughout the editing session.
- Multicam, when playing timeline, sometimes it doesn't stop when prompted and it keeps on playing for a random amount of time.
I really need help. I can't seem to find the previous version of adobe anymore. Can I please have the previous version and can you convert my current project to work with the previous version. Help me please, Help me please!!, Adobe help. Help your client!Mitch W@

Hey Mitch, Thanx for your reply.
I don't it's false. The reason for that is whenever I get that "audio dropout" event, adobe reacts really slow and I can't edit fluently.
I've been busy the whole day trying to figure out what the problem is. I contacted adobe support and the remotely accessed my computer and see for themselves.
We opened the activity monitor to see what's happening. Monitoring system memory revealed something interesting. The free memory dropped low after working for 20 minutes. when the "swap used" reached 5gb I got an "audio dropped" event. So we purged the memory with the terminal application.
I restarted my computer and reopened Adobe premiere pro CC and started editing. After a few minutes it gave me an audio drop event again. Whenever I get them, premiere reacts slowly.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014.2 Playback Freezing, Audio Dropouts

There are several times when I'm working on a project, whether small, medium or large in size, where playback tends to seize up my entire machine and everything locks up/freezes for 3-5 seconds. Then when it starts to play again, I get the audio dropout error. After scouring through multiple forums, I saw one of the Adobe help suggestions was to remove the speakers (one that a user scoffed at). I thought, what the hell, and unplugged my headphones. Voila - playback is stutter free. Now, I haven't worked for hours on end yet so this is a preliminary result. My concern is that I work in an open office so I'm surrounded by colleagues working so having headphones is ideal. I'm in a catch 22 and not sure what solutions there are so I don't experience program hang-ups so I can work in silence.
Comp. specs:
Dell Precision 6600
Core I7
32GB Ram
2 SSD HDD
Quadro 3000M

I was behind on an update! Never mind LOL!

External display at 1920x1200 causing audio dropouts

I've got my Macbook hooked up to a Samsung Syncmaster 245B+ 24" monitor running at 1920x1200 with the Macbook in clamshell mode, I bought the monitor a couple of weeks ago and ever since I've been having problems with audio dropouts, both with the onboard soundcard and my external Presonus Firefox Firewire audio interface.
It seems the CPU is being overloaded at random, usually when there is some kind of graphical happening in a web browser for example. If I load up a page with a lot of graphical elements on it, sometimes the audio cuts out for a few seconds and then comes back, even then it can come back distorted. I can usually force these dropouts by briskly resizing the browser window, which makes the CPU usage level increase somewhat and thus the audio cuts out.
I first of all put this down to the Macbook not being able to display at this resolution sufficiently, but I have seen no other complaints from people running a 24" external. What's even more concerning is that I can switch the external down to lower resolutions (ie 1024x640) and still get the audio dropouts, which should not be happening as the Macbooks own display runs higher than this and I never get a problem when using it that way.
I've tried creating a new user account and the problem persists. Tried repairing disk permissions (although I knew it would make no difference) to no avail. I suppose the next step would be a complete reinstall of Leopard, but obviously would like to avoid this.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be? Do you think it's just the Macbook in general not being able to handle this monitor or a specific problem with mine?
I hope I can get this sorted, it's really off putting having music dropouts while I am working...
TIA,
Alex

Next time is happens, try unplugging the external monitor, but only the external monitor. Leave everything else plugged in, including any peripherals, like the Personus and also any attached USB devices. If the problem persists, then start unplugging the peripherals one-by-one.
Generally a display should have no bearing on sound since the GPU (X3100) is completely separate from the CPU where sound is managed.
You haven't said anything about your MacBook's configuration but maybe there is an insufficient amount of RAM for the number of processes running. That's another possibility.

160 Gb Classic - Audio dropouts, gaps on gapless albums with apple lossless

Dear All,
Since getting my new iPod Classic 160 Gb iPod Classic, I am experiencing audio dropouts that last between one and two seconds. They aren't frequent, occurring maybe one every hour or two of audio playback. They appear to be very random. If I play back the same track after having a dropout, it plays fine and doesn't happen again in the same place. This doesn't appear to be connected to my moving or shaking the iPod around, as it will happen when I am sitting down and perfectly stationary. Also, I don't think it is related to a bad earphone connection, as I a have played the iPod with several pairs of new and/or high quality earphones. More info: Most of my files are Apple Lossless and content is primarily regular music albums. Of note, this is the second 160 Gb iPod I've had with the same problems! The first one I brought down to the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo and they replaced it in the blink of an eye after I explained the same as above.
Prior to the 160 Gb Classic, I have owned 1st, 3rd and 5th generation iPods (plus a 2nd gen. Nano and shuffle). The 5th gen. 60 Gb was playing the exact same audio files and never had any dropouts.
I have reset the Classic and reinstalled all my music files (with the most recent ipod software 1.0.2 and running iTunes 7.5) twice now, but the problem remains. I am now thinking of taking one of two possible routes of action. a) go back down to the Apple Store and try to get another iPod replacement (and hope and pray that it doesn't experience this problem) or, b) change all my music files to something like 192 kbps and hope (and pray!) the iPod can handle the smaller file size without the dropouts. At the moment, I am leaning towards going down to the Apple Store as it would actually be the less time consuming of the two for me.
What do you wise people out there think? Exchange iPod or downsize my audio files? Or, does anyone have another suggestion or recommendation on how to resolve this issue? Thanks for any assistance.
To add to this, I have also noticed that several of my gapless albums (DJ mix CD's like those by Global Underground), no longer play consistently "gapless". Sometimes it will pass smoothly between tracks and other times there will be a small pause/gap. No doubt, I have checked the gapless album box and selected yes, in the album get info section for all of these albums, but still problems remain. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Again, my previous iPod, 5th gen. 60 Gb had none of these problems with the same files. I am really happy with the 160 Gb capacity of my new classic but feel a bit let down with these problems I'm having.
Regards,
Peter B.

Thank heaven! I thought I might be the only one.
My situation almost exactly mirrors your own. My first 160GB classic suffered from sudden dropouts, apparently random and almost impossible to replicate in any predictable fashion. For example, I'd start playing an album and would hear a one or two second dropout in the second track, but in attempting to replicate the situation exactly (as in, powering down the iPod, powering it back up and starting over from the first track of the album) I'd find that the fault didn't recur. Restoring and reloading made no difference at all.
So I took it in to the Apple Store and had it replaced, loaded the replacement up with music and was dismayed to discover myself facing the same problem. I too have had several iPods which were loaded off this same library, and none of them ever gave trouble in this fashion.
I think the issue might just be the size of the files in our libraries. The bulk of my files are at 320kbps, and you mentioned yours were mostly Lossless - could it be that the classic has problems dealing with large files? It's a very frustrating issue, since the audio quality of my classic is so much better to my ears than that of my previous iPod 5G.
I recommend that you take the iPod in and take them to task about it. That's certainly what I'm going to do - I really don't want to re-encode all my music, especially considering that I bought this iPod due to the burgeoning size of my library, and re-encoding would defeat the point. Plus, since it has better sound it sort of deserves to be loaded with larger files. I just hope this isn't an irremediable issue, which I'm starting to suspect it might be, since your iPods were obtained in Japan and mine in the UK. I'll continue posting as this unfolds, and I hope you'll do the same.

Audio Dropouts on H.264 Quicktime movies playing from CD ROM or DVD ROM

I've been consistently having trouble getting H.264 .mov files saved on a CD-Rom or DVD-ROM to play back smoothly on Windows computers. The files will open, but there always seems to be sporadic audio dropouts, every 5-10 seconds the audio will drop out for half a second or so. This doesn't appear to be affecting the video.When the files are copied to the hard drive, the problem goes away, and the problem isn't present at all when playing back on Macs (regardless of whether the file is on a disc or on the HD).
I've read elsewhere on this forums that this is perhaps a data-rate problem, but this really doesn't make any sense to me, seeing as these are highly compressed, very small files (5 fps on the video, audio is AAC mono, 32kbps). Unless my understanding of data rate is completely backwards, a DVD Video or Audio CD would have a much higher data-rate. Seeing as Macs have no problem with this, I'm inclined to think it's some sort of problem with Windows' ability to handle AAC audio. If anyone has any experience with this, and/or ideas for a solution, I would greatly appreciate some feeback.
Thanks!

If the problem goes away when the file is copied to the hard drive, then the problem is almost certainly with the data transfer rate from the CD/DVD drive. If the problem were with Windows decoding H.264 and/or AAC, the problem would also appear for files copies to the hard drive. H.264 is a pretty data-intensive format, so it could easily exceed the available data rate of a CD or DVD. (note that file size will make no difference; it's the data rate, which comes from a combination o the image size of the video and the compression of the video and audio tracks) that's the only factor).
Run QuickTime Player, open one of the videos, and open the Movie Inspector for the movie (Window -> Show Movie Inspector). Then take a look at the data rate and compare that to the data rate of your CD/DVD drive. If the drive's rate is lower, you have your answer. If it shows that it should be able to handle the data rate, you may need to update or replace the drivers for your CD/DVD drive and/or update the drive's firmware.
Hope this helps.

Lion audio dropouts with external speakers?

Since I installed OS 10.7.3 (upgraded from 10.6.8), I get audio dropouts whenever I use external speakers. I use my Mini (purchased a year ago in Feb 2011) connected to my TV for Skype, Netflix, and listening to iTunes, so this effectively eliminates my ability to use it. I don't get dropouts if I use the internal speakers, and it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm using iTunes to play something resident on the internal hard drive or watching something on Netflix streaming over wifi, or whether I have wifi or bluetooth on or off. The external speakers are run through an HDMI cable connecting the computer and the TV.

Updates applied, at least one of which caused reccurrence of my audio dropout problem (I'm guessing iTunes is the culprit):
iPhoto Update 9.2.2
GarageBand Update 6.0.5
Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.10
Application Loader 2.5.1
Safari 5.1.4
iTunes 10.6

Audio Dropouts, MOTU Traveler

I am experiencing audio dropouts after replacing my old Mac G5 Dual with a Mac Pro 12 core, 64 bit. I am using a MOTU Traveler Firewire interface. The accompanying clicks and high frequency screeches indicate the the problem is syncing the interface with the computer. I suspect the drivers and firmware updates are the problems.
Are any other music studios using Mac 12 cores users experiencing this problem?

sorry but does anyone here know what 2 do ???
i have been at this problem for the last month i have reinstaled express, the sound card, my midi card,
and have looked at just about every manual and help topic obn the web and hard copy that i can find about audio routing and recording....
i'm going to take this heap of s£@t back to the shop and buy pro if no one can help me (but i can't afford 2 yet)
my kit list is
macbook pro 2.16ghz, 2gb ram, 100gb hdd, logic express 7.2.3, motu traveler, motu midi express 128, m-audio trigger finger, edirol pcr m-30, roland tr-909, jomox xbase-09, nord rack 2, micro korg, dbx 166xl and ableton 6.0.7 plus a few vst and au plugins.

Audio Dropouts on calls after v.1.1.4 update.

I installed the *1.1.4 firmware* update the day it came out...since then, I'm having consistent audio-dropouts during calls.
It happens for anyone that I call, about *every 4 to 6 seconds*, I get a blip of silence, and makes conversing very difficult.
I tried the "Restore" option in iTunes, it backed up my phone first, then went to factory defaults.... Even before restoring my data, I made an outgoing call by manually dialing and got the same audio problem.
Any ideas out there?
thanks in advance,
-h

If you have a friend that has a computer with iTunes on it, I would recommend Restoring your iPhone on their computer incase the firmware update through your computer might have not gone through correctly.
Or take it to a Genius Bar at a nearby Apple Store and have them restore and make sure the software is updated on your iPhone for you. Sometimes it just helps when they use their computers for updates.
I've noticed others having issues with updating their firmware as well on their personal computers, but when they take it in to the Genius Bar and they restore/update with their computers, it seems to work fine afterwards.

Airtunes audio dropouts!

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