Contributor I

AirPlay cuts out on pause

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 3, 2019
107 replies
15288 views

I just got a Sonos One (Gen 2) after reading that Airplay was finally working well with it. I was hoping to use it as my speaker when streaming video from my MacBook Pro, but have been hounded by audio issues–even with it connected via Ethernet to my Airport. The audio cuts out if paused for more than a few seconds. The easiest fix has been to go to Volume in the Menu Bar, switch the output device to something else and then back to Sonos. It's a pain to have to do this over and over. The audio comes back without much delay.

I noticed that there is a substantial delay when I go to unpause music that's been paused for a bit as well, but not as bad as when unpausing Netflix or Youtube. The audio also cuts out in minute drops every now and then, which probably just comes from AirPlay sucking up my shitty wifi's bandwidth as I've read in other posts.

Given all the other unresolved issues I have read about and the hassle that was setting this up over the phone since the app's automated setup didn't work, I am thinking I am probably just going to return my speaker. I would rather have a cheap Bluetooth speaker that I don't need to run an additional application for or even have plugged into the wall all the time.

I feel mislead. I don't get the hype for this thing.

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Pinned Reply By Corry P

Hi all.

This was brought to my attention on another post - thanks @joycean

I have done some investigating and found out the following:

AirPlay 2 requires that a buffer be filled prior to playback. Airplay 1 does not. As live system sounds cannot be buffered (you’d need time-travelling software code), when AirPlay-ing from macOS system settings AirPlay 1 is always used.
AirPlay likely times-out if no data is sent (ie. silence), though I cannot find a figure for this period.
AirPlay 1 is not supported by Sonos, but tends to work. Therefore, if you are using AirPlay 1 and sending all system sounds to Sonos, it works, usually, but may have issues like those described here. As AirPlay 1 is not supported by Sonos, we will not be addressing these issues.
macOS Applications (like Safari, Apple Music and Spotify) do support AirPlay2, but you must initiate the connection from that application, not the Mac’s settings. The media stream can then be buffered to the speaker and synced for playback.

In our own testing, we were unable to produce this issue when using AirPlay 2. If you experience these issues while using AirPlay 2 (initiated at the application level rather than at the system level), we would very much like to hear about it. Please get in touch with our technical support team if this is the case, as this is something that we would want to resolve (be it a networking or software issue).

It would be interesting if any of you could recreate the issue as you have before, but while having one media paused (YouTube for example), start something else playing over the AirPlay 1 connection - when you restart the paused media, does it play through Sonos immediately? I suspect so, as the second media playing will have kept the connection to the speaker live. I suspect @eldiets1’s fix of having a minimised window does exactly this.

I hope this information helps you all to use your Sonos speakers with your Apple products in a satisfactory way.

Show previous replies

A

Aaron The Baron

Lyricist I

I just purchased a Sonos Arc and two Sonos One speakers. I listen to music while I work and have to pause frequently, and every time it fails to play unless I switch audio devices and switch back on my Mac, just as described in this two year old thread. Since Sonos has apparently done nothing to fix it, I am sadly going to have to return everything. :-(

106rallye

Why not play using the Sonos app? In my experience this is a more stable connection and you can still pause from the Mac app.

D

davidg_croydon

Lyricist I

Just registered to add that I’m having the same issue. It’s incredibly frustrating. I have two new Gen 2 One SL speakers set up as a stereo pair, connected via AirPlay to a 2021 MacBook Pro running Ventura 13.1
The pair of speakers are called ‘Office’ and Apple Music can be playing happily to Office, but then I pause, and when I start them again, the computer can’t find Office.. I try again, and it finds it immediately.

Following some comments on here, I’ve been trying the AirPlay button within the Music app and directing the sound direct to ‘Office’ from within the App, rather than to my MacBook Pro. This has worked for the last couple of hours. One drawback of this approach appears to be that the volume can no longer be controlled by the keyboard volume buttons, but they can on the Sonos speakers directly.

C

Cooney01

Contributor I

How have they not solved this? Sonos is baffling sometimes.

Airgetlam

As a possibility, its not a Sonos bug, but an Apple thing, that Apple needs to fix? Sonos doesn’t have the capability to go in to Apple’s code base, unfortunately. Both companies tend to be slow to release fixes, but I’ve seen much more active response from Sonos than I ever have from Apple. When it’s Sonos’ fault, that is. When the responsibility is elsewhere, they tend to stay quiet, and not throw their partners under the proverbial bus.

Bruce

B

bstahl

As a possibility, its not a Sonos bug, but an Apple thing, that Apple needs to fix? Sonos doesn’t have the capability to go in to Apple’s code base, unfortunately. Both companies tend to be slow to release fixes, but I’ve seen much more active response from Sonos than I ever have from Apple. When it’s Sonos’ fault, that is. When the responsibility is elsewhere, they tend to stay quiet, and not throw their partners under the proverbial bus.

I’ve got the same problem, with multiple Macs and Sonos One SL. One problem is that Apple sells the HomePod (both mini and now the Gen 2 full speaker), which is in many ways a competitor to Sonos. I don’t know the true cause of why they won’t fix, but they may in fact have an incentive to not fix it except for their own speakers, as depressing as that is.

K

KHubz

Lyricist I

So great to read this thread. Thanks to all the contributors.

I just bought two Gen 2 SL’s and immediately hit this problem.

I literally had an Arc, two more SL’s, and a mini-sub in my cart ready to overhaul my entire home theatre system and so grateful I didn’t. And now I won’t. I can’t think of a way to acknowledge a problem other than with my wallet.

VLC, QuickTime, streaming apps, and webpages - all the same. Press pause and the audio disconnects when connected via the AirPlay top menu. Whereas my Apple TV and all my old Airport Expresses are rock solid. Sorry Sonos, I guess we’re just not lucrative enough to care about. So I’ll be shopping elsewhere.

F

Filasie

Lyricist I

After all this time, still having this problem. It shows that SONOS is not really concerned with its clients. As a result, in the future, I will be opting for products from other brands. This inaction by SONOS is absolutely unacceptable to me, especially considering the prices of their products.

106rallye

Look like you too have connection problems. Why not work them out (with Sonos’ help) instead of just venting here.