WiiM Amp: Airplay streaming drops/does not start

[JWH1776]

I recently purchased several WiiM Amps to drive various architectural speaker zones in my home. I have setup two of these units so far and when I attempt to stream via airplay from my iOS and Mac devices, the streaming behavior is inconsistent.

If it's the first attempt to stream after an amp reboot/fresh start, I don't seem to have issues. After that, it's hit or miss as to whether my iOS device's audio will come through the speakers. Often Apple Music will indicate that a track is playing from my Mac (counting down track time), when I've selected the WiiM units as outputs. On the iOS devices, the device will indicate that the track is playing, but I hear no audio and after a few seconds, the device will revert the audio output back to the iPhone.

If I reboot the WiiM Amp, it always clears up the issue for the first connection... then the issues arise again.

I have connected both units to WiFi and ethernet, but I see the same behavior, regardless of how it's connected. Both units behavior is identical, regardless of the manner in which they are connected.

I'm using iOS 18 on my iOS devices, on the same WiFi network (a mesh Wifi, dual-band 2.4/5 GHz network). When using my Mac, it's on the same ethernet LAN as the the mesh Wifi and WiiM Amp ethernet switches. I have also tried rebooting the WiFi network (no change), as well as power cycling my iOS devices (no change).

I have submitted trouble tickets with WiiM support as well, but I have not heard anything.

 

[Buryme2wice]

I almost exclusively use Airplay. I've had my Amp since April & recall initial connectivity issues which seemed to be resolved (mostly) by turning on the 5Ghz Only option in the Network Status settings. IOs18 also seemed to throw a few problems for a few days on release but it's been mainly stable since.

When it has previously thrown an issue it seems to be the phone rather than the Amp which requires the attention to resolve, apologies that I can't remember what I did to fix it. I'll update if it happens again.

I also read the latest firmware included a fix to add greater Wifi stability, I'm running 5.0.633164 on the Amp and the App is running 2.12.2.24102403.
The update notes simply said:
Bug Fixes:

1. Playback Enhancements:
   • Fixed an issue where playback could not resume after Wi-Fi reconnection.

Maybe it's relevant seeing as Airplay is using the Wifi

 

[jxrxme]

I‘m using the Amp with an Ethernet/LAN connection for several months now without AirPlay issues. My guess is that the issues are WiFi related and I would start troubleshooting with using the 5GHz only option like mentioned above.

 

[JWH1776]

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately I cannot select the 5GHz only option when these are connected to Ethernet. I may try to disconnect them and select 5GHz only later tonight and do some tests.

 

[jxrxme]

Sorry I didn’t read that you are using Ethernet already. The Amp’s WiFi should turn off if Ethernet is used. If it doesn’t that’s maybe the problem?