AirPlay


I have been listening to a boutique streaming service that for various reasons is best accessed by AirPlay from an iPad.  In my main system I have CA CXN 60 streamer that has AirPlay and the connection is stable and SQ is excellent.  However, when I try the same iPad to various Apple Devices in the home (Home Pad, two Apple TVs) it sucks.  Drop outs ,difficulty loading, frequent reboots required, etc.

 Is  there some irony here that Apple is the worst implemntator of their own creation?

mahler123

So the streaming service that I use for this is Pristine Classical.  These are historic recordings, almost all in mono, frequently pre WW II.  The digital restoration is amazing, but I find that AirPlay or Bluetooth is enough fidelity for these as the source is inherently limited.  Unfortunately my streamers are incompatible with this particular boutique service.

  I actually am impressed with AirPlay for conventional CD replay, as per the previous poster.  Google Chrome is better.  Bluetooth, not so much

I've had mostly good results with Airplay, streaming to HomePods, Apple TV devices, and other Airplay compatible devices. The sound quality is more than satisfactory to me. I listen fully aware of the sampling rate changes of the original material that take place between Airplay devices. 

When the stream pauses, drops out, or otherwise hiccups, it has always been a wifi/network issue within my home. Fortunately, I live in a sparsely populated rural area with virtually zero wi-fi congestion. Rebooting - including unplugging from AC for a minute or two -  the entire network, modems, routers, switches and then restarting them beginning with the cable modem has always brought things back to full reliability. For a few months, at least. So it's a maintenance chore on my home network that I try to do once per month or so. (Just "cleaning the pipes.")

If your home network is in a neighborhood with congested wifi, you could try to create multiple wifi zones using a wifi router in bridge mode or buying a mesh system. 

Also, it's important to stay up-to-date with the software updates that Apple rolls out to their devices. Some updates change how the devices interact with each other. My paired HomePods recently updated and I had to unpair and reset them to fix a dropout glitch in one channel. Not a big deal for me once I discovered a new setting that seemed to cause the issue.

Good luck with your streaming. I think Apple's Airplay is a convenient way to watch and listen to content. Is it bit-perfect? My ears can't tell and I am grateful for that.

 

Tom

"I have been listening to a boutique streaming service that for various reasons is best accessed by AirPlay from an iPad."

Airplay is low SQ not hi-res you need to do better if you want more accurate, truthful, faithful sound.