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j.wo
Contributor I
August 3, 2019

AirPlay cuts out on pause

  • August 3, 2019
  • 107 replies
  • 15289 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.

     

    107 replies

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    toms_i
    Lyricist I
    February 6, 2020

    I found some temporary relief. Ill have to monitor the fix to see if its coincidental or not. 

    My apple TV and Sonos speakers were on separate networks (2.4GHz and 5GHz). I moved the Apple TV over to the 2.4GHz and its been working so far.... hopefully I have actually discovered something and not called home too soon. This does not explain why it wouldn't work on a wired connection, so i am skeptical. 

    I am 100% sure that does not fix the issue. My MacBook and Sonos are both in 2.4GHz. I also tried to connect the speakers via ethernet cable to may modem and the issue still persists. This is definitely some Airplay issue. If Sonos does not fix them soon I will sell them and am out of their system.

    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    February 6, 2020

    I found some temporary relief. Ill have to monitor the fix to see if its coincidental or not. 

    My apple TV and Sonos speakers were on separate networks (2.4GHz and 5GHz). I moved the Apple TV over to the 2.4GHz and its been working so far.... hopefully I have actually discovered something and not called home too soon. This does not explain why it wouldn't work on a wired connection, so i am skeptical. 

    I am 100% sure that does not fix the issue. My MacBook and Sonos are both in 2.4GHz. I also tried to connect the speakers via ethernet cable to may modem and the issue still persists. This is definitely some Airplay issue. If Sonos does not fix them soon I will sell them and am out of their system.

    Perhaps see if anything in this link may help.,, hope you get it sorted.👍

    https://appletoolbox.com/apple-help-tips-and-tricks-support-index/airplay-not-working-how-to-fix-your-problems/

    Davesonos12345
    Lyricist II
    February 6, 2020

    Toms_i, you are right it was a coincidence. Does not fix the issue. 
    Ken_Griffiths, thank you for the link however none of those solutions are resolving the issue. 
     

    send help, Sonos. 

    pup
    Avid Contributor II
    February 6, 2020

    Since you said that your Sonos is plugged into your AirPort, it could be that the Sonos is getting its IP address from your internet router, while your WiFi devices are getting theirs from the AirPort itself.  My experience is that setup can cause very similar problems to what you’re seeing.  

    Davesonos12345
    Lyricist II
    February 6, 2020

    Since you said that your Sonos is plugged into your AirPort, it could be that the Sonos is getting its IP address from your internet router, while your WiFi devices are getting theirs from the AirPort itself.  My experience is that se tup can cause very similar problems to what you’re seeing.  

    I think he’s saying the airport IS his “internet router” and he means that the difference between WiFi and ethernet do not change the outcome. Which would be the same in almost everyone’s case. Airplay devices are detected by the Apple product of which are on the same LAN. Please correct my comment if there are inaccuracies. 

    pup
    Avid Contributor II
    February 6, 2020

    Sine you said that your Sonos is plugged into your AirPort, it could be that the Sonos is getting its IP address from your internet router, while your WiFi devices are getting theirs from the AirPort itself.  My experience is that se tup can cause very similar problems to what you’re seeing.  

    I think he’s saying the airport IS his “internet router” and he means that the difference between WiFi and ethernet do not change the outcome. Which would be the same in almost everyone’s case. Airplay devices are detected by the Apple product of which are on the same LAN. Please correct my comment if there are inaccuracies. 

    I’m assuming that he has a cable modem or other router to which his airport is connected.  I had airplay working across a subnet like that, but I had similar problems to these - very flaky connections.

    Kevspice
    Contributor II
    February 29, 2020

    Just to want to add I’m also having the same issue when streaming via airplay 2 to an amp. 

    Macbook Pro (Mojave) > Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Router > AMP

    It’s super annoying having to disconnect / reconnect to Sonos every time media is paused. The weird thing is that it seems the device is still connected via airplay under network settings, but there’s just no sound. The amount of time that something is paused in order for this to happen also seems irregular. Sometimes I can pause for a minute or two and everything is fine. Other times I pause for a few seconds and then have to disconnect/reconnect (also it seems the reconnection process takes longer to happen once the problem has been triggered, than it would when starting a fresh connection via airplay.)

      Ueberf
      Lyricist I
      March 23, 2020

      I have not been able to figure this problem out either. HOWEVER I do have a fix. I have been trying to figure out what the issue was and why it might happen. Sitting here watching a podcast and then it hit me. What if your computer told your Sonos something was always playing but no audio was actually playing.  Boom - play this video when you connect and minimize the tab. 

       

      Enjoy only connecting to sonos once….now if only we can have a default to Sonos audio feature

      It’s slightly disappointing that this thread is now over 7 months old, there has been no Sonos response and this hack is still the only thing that ‘fixed’ the issue

        Ryan S
        Ryan S
        Retired Sonos Staff
        March 23, 2020

        Hi everyone,

        When using AirPlay 2, this shouldn’t be an issue, however a lot of apps through the MacBook Pro will use AirPlay 1 which can have this behavior. I’d be happy to pass some extra information along to the team to look into this further, in case there’s something else going in. If you can get this to occur regularly, can you recreate the issue, then submit a diagnostic and let us know the confirmation number in here? Let us know what device was sending the AirPlay stream, and what software the stream was coming from. Thanks!

        Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
          Hybrid
          Lyricist II
          March 28, 2020

          Hi everyone,

          When using AirPlay 2, this shouldn’t be an issue, however a lot of apps through the MacBook Pro will use AirPlay 1 which can have this behavior. I’d be happy to pass some extra information along to the team to look into this further, in case there’s something else going in. If you can get this to occur regularly, can you recreate the issue, then submit a diagnostic and let us know the confirmation number in here? Let us know what device was sending the AirPlay stream, and what software the stream was coming from. Thanks!

          Ryan, with all due respect, this is not an “issue” that you’d need someone to submit diagnostics for, this is design which you (as in Sonos) can easily test by:

          1. Using macOS
          2. Connect to Sonos speakers using AirPlay (in sound preferences, under the volume adjustment icon)
          3. Go to e.g. youtube.com using your favourite browser
          4. Start playing video (any video will do)
          5. Stop the video for say 30sec
          6. Start playing video again

          Anyone using Mac in your team can do these diagnostics, this is caused by design not by user-end issue.

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