1. Home
  2. tech-talk
  3. 196181-175568

Streaming Audio Repeatedly Cuts Out Briefly - Need Troubleshooting Advice

Hello. I have a Marantz Cinema 70s receiver with the following devices connected to it...a Bluesound Node streamer, 3 Outlaw 200W monoblock amplifiers that I use to power my LCR speakers, an AppleTV, a PS5 and a Blu-ray player. Until recently everything seemed to work well, however for the past couple months whenever I stream music using my phone, the audio most of the time, but not always, will cut out for a couple seconds every 20-30 seconds. I've tried with Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal going through the Bluesound Node. I've also tried streaming directly from my phone (iPhone 15 Pro) to the receiver, cutting the Bluesound out of the loop and it continues to happen. In case it was related to the phone, I tried with my wife's phone (iPhone 14 Pro) and experience the same problem. I experience no issues with the Apple TV, with the PS5 or playing Blu-rays. I have not had an opportunity to try with an Android device yet to see if it's an iOS issue. I can say though that my phone streams fine to Bluetooth headphone and via either Bluetooth or wired Carplay in our cars. I'm puzzled, because if it was related to the Bluesound Node, I wouldn't expect an issue streaming directly to the receiver. On the other hand I wouldn't think it would be a network/streaming issue since the Bluesound has Spotify Connect and the music would not be coming from my phone as such. Sorry for the long message but looking for ideas on where else I can look to troubleshoot this. Thanks.

timantheos
deep_333
2,436 posts
 

All streaming devices should be hardwired with a ethernet cable, no wifi.

Sound United devices like Marantz can be very intolerant of a wifi connection.

Hopefully, you bought the Apple TV 4k box version which came with a ethernet port.

Any NAS should be hardwired with ethernet.

If issues persist after getting fully ethernet wired, update all firmware, try a different modem, etc. It is a good idea to not cheap out on the modem and router.

timantheos OP
3 posts
 

I don't believe it's a Marantz Wi-Fi issue, since the Bluesound Node is wired to it and that's where I initially experienced the issue. The AppleTV is wireless and works without issue, including for Apple Music. There's no NAS involved in my setup. All firmwares are current and I have Wi-Fi 6e with a 2 GB downstream connection to my provider. Additionally everything did work well for probably 2-3 months and only more recently started to have issues.

cleeds
6,581 posts
 

I'd take a look at the modem. What are you using?

hjdca's avatar
hjdca
249 posts
 

If your modem is old, I would change it.  If not, you can add an EERO mesh system for a few hundred dollars and that should make a big difference, ie a 3 node system.   Put one EERO node right next to your streamer and hardwire it to the node.  You could also use wireless to the EERO node, but, I think hardwiring it with an ethernet cable is better. 

Note:  I had the same problem with my steaming cutting out, and I upgraded my modem and it almost fixed it...  After that, I had rare cutouts.  The ultimate fix for me was adding the EERO 3 node mesh system setup like I indicated above.  No cutout problems since.  My house still has DSL (copper), so, the EERO mesh system was a big upgrade. 

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,458 posts
 

You said you are streaming from your phone? Is that what you intended, or are you using your iPhone as a control device. You should be using your phone to control your devices... if in one case you are actually streaming and using Appleplay (is that it) then that is likely your problem. It can be a very unreliable carrier. 

More to discover