Does anyone know what causes "cutting out" while playing to multiple speakers with Airplay?

[conn]

I've tried to make the best of my "new" system since December but it's just not reliable... I'm not sure of which device is to blame (Airplay, WiiM, Audio Pro) and it's very well possible that my home is just to complicated for this type of setup and I'll have to completely go back to Sonos.

I have about 8+ speakers which consists of 3 Audio pro WiiM editions (and one AP non WiiM), one WiiM Pro Plus with some Audio Engine Speakers, a JBL 300 and some Sonos speakers. All speakers have a good wifi connection per their signal strength reporting yet I still get random cutting/dropouts from just about every speaker.

I have a busy household with about 70+ devices connect to wifi (when everyone is home) consisting of multiple TV's, game consoles, security cameras, etc... I can easily stream 4k to multiple tv's at once with no issues, none of my other device have any problems (or i'd hear about it) but when I stream over Airplay to my speakers they will randomly cut in/out.

I'm using a pair of Asus ET12's routers and they have never given me any problems since ownership, connections to all my devices are always solid.

I'm using an Ipad 9th gen (only Apple device I own) to stream Via Airplay to all these speakers.

 

[Burnside]

Given that an airplay stream is delivered via your iPad from whichever service you’re using and from there sent over your network to multiple speakers, it could be that the iPad isn’t up to the job of handling and distributing 8+ simultaneous airplay streams. Given apple’s closed ecosystem, I don’t know if there’s an app or another means of analysing the iPad or resulting network traffic to ascertain if that is where the problem lies.
Have you tried playing to smaller groups (e.g. all the Linkplay devices, either as an airplay group or Linkplay group), then add in other devices to see what the breaking point is? I’d even try linking the Linkplay devices then just choosing the main speaker as one airplay endpoint to see if that would help offload some of the stream distribution away from the iPad. Only drawback with that is that you might lose sync between those and the other airplay endpoints.

 

[conn]

Yeah, i've been trying to understand how Airplay works and I was wondering what exactly broadcasts the music streams to the devices.

I usually play to one single speaker (the JBL 300) or all the speakers at once so I guess i'll have to do what you suggested. The ipad is just used for Airplay, nothing else. My issue is that I moved away from Sonos to avoid this type of tinkering honestly because I just don't really want to anymore, lol. I was hoping since it was an Apple product it would just work perfectly (i'm not an Apple user).

I'm at the point now of dumping all the Audio Pro speakers and getting a few Era 100's in their place, I admittedly may have abandoned Sonos to soon for my requirements....

 

[conn]

Well as a follow up to this the problem is with Airplay ONLY... I did some experimenting this weekend and when using Airplay from my Ipad is when the dropouts occur. When streaming to just my Audio Pro speakers from the WiiM app no issues at all.

Disappointing considering I purchased an iPad just for using Airplay which was suggested when mixing different speakers. I guess it cant handle it so I will have to shuffle some speakers again....

 

[hgo58]

Well as a follow up to this the problem is with Airplay ONLY... I did some experimenting this weekend and when using Airplay from my Ipad is when the dropouts occur. When streaming to just my Audio Pro speakers from the WiiM app no issues at all.

Disappointing considering I purchased an iPad just for using Airplay which was suggested when mixing different speakers. I guess it cant handle it so I will have to shuffle some speakers again....

The major differences is that with AirPlay all data stream though the iOS device (iPad) to each speaker, while streaming from the WiiM Home App the app only acts as a controller and data is streaming directly to each of the speakers.

So using AirPlay put a big load on the iPad, when having multiple speakers.

 

[Burnside]

The major differences is that with AirPlay all data stream though the iOS device (iPad) to each speaker, while streaming from the WiiM Home App the app only acts as a controller and data is streaming directly to each of the speakers.

So using AirPlay put a big load on the iPad, when having multiple speakers.

As suspected in the first response…

 

[conn]

I didn't actually think the the data stream was sent directly from the Ipad to all the speakers, I mistakenly assumed it worked just like other streaming devices. It makes sense now because the speakers would clip out when opening a door or walking by them etc..., yet they had a strong wifi signal.

 

[d6jg]

There is a subtle but very significant difference between AirPlay and Casting and you have discovered exactly what it is.

Before you throw the iPad across the room in disgust which service is it where you particularly want to use AirPlay?

 

[conn]

Honestly I just wanted to stream to a mix of speakers, I have Audio Pro (Wiim/non WiiM), JBL, Bose & Sonos.

When I was first starting to move into the WiiM ecosystem someone in this forum suggested Airplay to get a mix of speakers working so I just assumed (mistakenly) since it was Apple it would work, didn't really know the mechanics of it.

As of now i'll probably get rid of my remaining Sonos speakers (but not my Arc system) & the JBL and score a few more Audio Pro's in place of them.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I have used Airplay with up to six speakers connected without issues, and regularly us it with three or four speakers.

How many were you trying to connect to when you have experienced issues?

 

[conn]

About 8 speakers, some 60+ feet away from the source tablet.

I noticed my one Audio Pro speaker in my garage (which is probably the farthest) would cut in/out when I either opened the door or walked by in certain spots oddly. Pretty much all speakers would get some random audio drops.

This weekend I streamed only with Audio Pro speakers via the WiiM app and not a single issue so i'm glad I was able to figure out the culprit.

I just purchased two AP T3+'s to take the place of the JBL and Sonos speaker that I was trying to force with all the other speakers via Airplay. It's a shame really because the JBL 300 is probably the best sounding speaker out of all of them.

 

[d6jg]

There can be lots of factors involved - what's happening on the iPad at the same time, stability and bandwidth on your Internet connection, the real quality of the WiFi (signal strength is not much of a guide), interference from neighbours WiFi etc etc

 

[conn]

There can be lots of factors involved - what's happening on the iPad at the same time, stability and bandwidth on your Internet connection, the real quality of the WiFi (signal strength is not much of a guide), interference from neighbours WiFi etc etc

I would say that interference from my own network (70+ connected devices) could probably be causing it. I have solid Wifi and internet, ipad is only being used for Airplay.